Galatians
6:9-18 “Don’t Lose Heart In Doing Good/The Real Motives Of The
Judaisers/Boast Only In The Cross Of Christ”
By
1.
In our last
study, we looked at verses 1-8 of chapter
6.
1.1.
Paul discussed
the importance of gently restoring a brother or sister that is caught in any
sin.
1.2.
Paul discussed
that we are to bear one another’s burdens and not think too highly of
ourselves.
1.3.
Paul talked about
the importance of supporting financially those who teach us the Word of God.
1.4.
Paul discussed
the principle of reaping whatever it is that you sow in this life.
1.5.
I mentioned that
when a car wreck happens out on the highway that the paramedics arrive and begin
to resuscitate and restore those who are injured, but then the police show up
and their concern is to find who they can write a ticket to and charge with a
crime. Then, I said that the church
needs to be like the paramedics, not the police. This illustration also shows the difference
between those living their lives under the grace of God, trusting in Jesus and
Him alone to save you, and those living living their lives under the paradigm
of Law and rule-keeping, and trying to make yourself acceptable and accepted
based upon your own good works and deeds; it is the difference between the
church that is based upon grace and the church based upon law.
2.
In our study
today, we are going to look at verses 9-18 of chapter 6 and finish up the book.
2.1.
Paul will now
exhort the Galatians to not lose heart in doing good.
2.2.
Paul will exhort
the Galatians to do good to all men, and especially those of the household of
the faith.
2.3.
Paul tells the
Galatians what the real motives of the Judaisers are, namely, they don’t want
to be persecuted for the cross of Jesus Christ.
2.4.
Paul tells the
Galatians that God forbid that he should glory in anything but the cross of
Jesus Christ, by which he is crucified to the world, and visa versa.
3.
VS 6:9 - “9
Let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we will reap if we do
not grow weary.”
– Paul tells the Galatians and by extension all believers to not lose heart in
doing good for in due time we Christians will reap if we do not grow weary
3.1.
In this epistle,
Paul has pointed the Galatians continually to the grace of the Lord Jesus
Christ as being the basis for their salvation, as he has taught them not to
think of any good work or act as giving them any basis for being accepted or
made acceptable by Christ. However, here
we see that he adds a little balance for them as he indicates that the
Christian life is to be about doing good, just as in the book of Acts it is
written of Jesus that He was always doing good:
Acts 10:38, “38 You know of Jesus of Nazareth, how God anointed
Him with the Holy Spirit and with power, and how He went about doing
good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him.”
3.2.
Paul encourages
and exhorts the Galatians, and us by way of extension, to ‘not lose heart in
doing good’. Many times as
Christians we can weary in doing good, especially when we encounter
difficulties, trials, and persecutions for doing it. Sometimes doing good as a Christian we
encounter what some in the business world have experienced: “No good deed will go unpunished.” But, we need encouragement to continue on
doing good deeds and not be discouraged from doing them.
3.3.
We as Christians
grow weary in doing good because it seems like we will never reap a harvest or
reward for it. The hope that Paul encourages
us with as we continue in doing good is that ‘in due time we will reap if we
do not grow weary.” Our sowing of
good deeds in God’s timing will reap a crop that brings glory to God, so this
is encouragement for us. We may engage
in many years of plowing and sowing, but God says in time we will bear fruit
for Him.
3.4.
The Bible
Exposition Commentary says the following about what causes us to get
discouraged from doing good and what we need to be encouraged by:
“But
the promise Paul gives us will help to keep us going: “In due season we shall
reap.” The seed that is planted does not bear fruit immediately. There are
seasons to the soul just as there are seasons to nature, and we must give the
seed time to take root and bear fruit. How wonderful it is when the plowman
overtakes the reaper (Amos 9:13). Each day we ought to sow the seed so that one
day we will be able to reap (Ps. 126:5–6). But we must remember that the Lord
of the harvest is in charge, and not the laborers.”
3.5.
The Bible
Exposition Commentary says the following about how sometimes we as Christians
can continue serving the Lord but lose the proper motivation for serving: “The church at
3.6.
Not being in the
word of God, or failing to pray as we should, are things that can cause us to ‘faint’
in our service for the Lord. We
Christians need to learn that we need nourishment from God’s Word, and also
learn to wait upon God in prayer for our strength, help, and resources, just as
Isaiah told us where our strength is to lie:
Isaiah 40:28-31, “28 Do you not know? Have you not
heard? The Everlasting God, the Lord,
the Creator of the ends of the earth Does not become weary or tired. His
understanding is inscrutable. 29
He gives strength to the weary, And to him who lacks might He
increases power. 30 Though youths grow weary
and tired, And vigorous young men stumble badly, 31 Yet those who wait for the Lord Will gain new strength; They will mount up with wings
like eagles, They will run and not get tired, They will walk and not become
weary.”
3.7.
We Christians
need to also realize that it may be the case that the reaping for our good
deeds we may not realized in this life, and it may be that it will come
directly from the Lord when He rewards us directly.
4.
VS 6:10 - “10
So then, while we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, and
especially to those who are of the household of the faith.” – Paul tells
the Galatians and by extension all believers that while there is opportunity to
do good to all people and especially the household of the faith
4.1.
Again, Paul
encourages believers to ‘do good’, as this is fundamental to the
Christian life, and he says here that we are to do this ‘to all people’. We should bless all people and seek what is
best for all people.
4.2.
In this life most
people give back to people what they receive.
If people are good to them, then they are good back. But, if people are evil to them then they
return back evil. But, Jesus was clear
with His disciples that the Christian is supposed to live a life that is above
this lower standard:
4.2.1. Luke 6:32-35, “32 If you love those who
love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who
love them. 33 “If you do good
to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even
sinners do the same. 34 “If you lend to
those from whom you expect to receive, what credit is that to you? Even
sinners lend to sinners in order to receive back the same amount. 35 “But love your enemies, and do good, and
lend, expecting nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will
be sons of the Most High; for He Himself is kind to ungrateful and evil men.”
4.2.2. Matthew 5:16, “16 Let your light shine
before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your
Father who is in heaven.”
4.3.
To the Thessalonians,
Paul said a similar thing to what he says here:
4.3.1. 1 Thessalonians 5:15, “15 See that no one repays
another with evil for evil, but always seek after that which is good for one
another and for all people.”.
4.3.2. 1 Thessalonians 3:12, “12 and may the Lord cause
you to increase and abound in love for one another, and for all people, just as
we also do for you,”
4.4.
St. Basil, the
bishop of
4.5.
We Christians
often quote Ephesians 2:8-9 because those verses teach us that we are saved by
faith through grace and not of works, but we seldom quote verse 10 which
balances it out. Verse 10 tells us that
we are created in Christ Jesus for good works which God has determined
beforehand that we should walk in.
Ephesians
2:8-10: “8 For by grace you have
been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of
God; 9 not as a result of works,
so that no one may boast. 10 For we are His
workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared
beforehand so that we would walk in them.”
4.6.
The scriptures
are full of examples and admonishments to do good deeds, for example:
4.6.1. 1 John 3:18, “18 Little children, let us not love
with word or with tongue, but in deed and truth.”
4.6.2. Deuteronomy 15:7-11, “7 If there is a poor man
with you, one of your brothers, in any of your towns in your land which the Lord your God is giving you, you shall
not harden your heart, nor close your hand from your poor brother; 8 but you shall freely open your hand to him, and
shall generously lend him sufficient for his need in whatever he lacks. 9 “Beware that there is no base thought in your
heart, saying, ‘The seventh year, the year of remission, is near,’ and your eye
is hostile toward your poor brother, and you give him nothing; then he may cry
to the Lord against you, and it
will be a sin in you. 10 “You shall generously
give to him, and your heart shall not be grieved when you give to him, because
for this thing the Lord your God
will bless you in all your work and in all your undertakings. 11 “For the poor will never cease to be in the
land; therefore I command you, saying, ‘You shall freely open your hand to your
brother, to your needy and poor in your land.’”
4.6.3. James 2:14-17, “14 What use is it, my brethren, if
someone says he has faith but he has no works? Can that faith save him? 15 If a brother or sister is without clothing and in
need of daily food, 16 and one of you says to
them, “Go in peace, be warmed and be filled,” and yet you do not give them what
is necessary for their body, what use is that? 17 Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead, being
by itself.”
4.7.
The Bible Exposition
Commentary says the following about letting our light shine before men by our
works:
“It
is not only by words that we witness to the lost, but also by our works.
In fact, our works pave the way for our verbal witness; they win us the right
to be heard. It is not a question of asking, “Does this person deserve my good
works?” Did we deserve what God did for us in Christ? Nor should we be like the
defensive lawyer who tried to argue, “Who is my neighbor?” (Luke 10:25–37)
Jesus made it very clear that the question is not “Who is my neighbor?” but “To
whom can I be a neighbor?””
4.8.
We in the church
must help out first those who are in the body of Christ, or ‘those who are
of the household of the faith’. We
should help out all people, but only after we have taken care of those who are
our own and made sure that their needs are met.
We must take care of the needs of our family and those in the body of
Christ before we take care of the needs of the neighborhood.
4.9.
We in the church
need to recognize that all of the needs of the neighborhood around us are
always way greater than the church could ever meet.
4.10.
The Bible
Exposition Commentary says, “The Christian in the household of faith is a
receiver that he might become a transmitter. As we abound in love for one
another, we overflow in love for all men (1 Thes. 3:12).”
5.
VS 6:11 - “11
See with what large letters I am writing to you with my own hand.” – Paul tells
the Galatians to observe the large letters that he was writing and that they
were his own handwriting
5.1.
In writing this,
we don’t know if Paul was speaking of his having written the entire epistle
himself, or just a paragraph at the end of the epistle with his autograph in
it. Normally in his writings Paul had
someone else transcribe for him and then he merely placed his signature at the
end of the letter.
5.2.
Paul had trouble
writing for some reason, and thus he used very large letters when he wrote.
5.3.
Some have
indicated that this verse is an indication that Paul as one of his afflictions
had trouble with his eyes. Others have
gone so far as to say that the “thorn in the side” that Paul wrote to
the Corinthians about was actual a problem with his eyesight.
6.
VS 6:12-13 - “12
Those who desire to make a good showing in the flesh try to compel you to
be circumcised, simply so that they will not be persecuted for the cross of
Christ. 13 For those who are
circumcised do not even keep the Law themselves, but they desire to have you
circumcised so that they may boast in your flesh.” – Paul tells the Galatians that
those who desire to make a good showing in the flesh compel them to be
circumcised simply so that they will not be persecuted for the cross of Christ,
for they themselves are not really keeping they law they just want to boast in
your flesh if you get circumcised
6.1.
In these verses,
Paul speaks to the motives of the Judaisers in seeking to have the Galatians
become circumcised and obey the Law of Moses as Christians:
6.1.1. First of all, they are trying to ‘make a good
showing in the flesh’. This was all
just about appearances to them, in other words.
The Judaisers wanted to show their Jewish brethren that these Gentile
believers in
6.1.2. The Judaisers themselves were not keeping all of the
Law of Moses but instead were cherry picking which aspects of the Law of Moses
that they were willing to keep, for it says here that they ‘do not eve keep
the Law themselves’.
6.1.3. The Judaisers wanted the Galatians to be circumcised
so that they could boast to their Jewish brethren that they had been making converts
to the Law amongst the Gentile converts in
6.1.4. The Judaisers were doing all of these things that they
were doing ‘simply so that they will not be persecuted for the cross of
Christ’. By making a hypocritical
showing that they were keeping the Law of Moses by making Gentile converts to
law-keeping amongst the Galatians, these Judaisers were hoping to avoided
persecution for their faith by the Jewish zealots who followed Paul all over
the world seeking to persecute him and any of his converts to the death.
6.2.
Paul will go on
to contrast his own life with that of the Judaisers, and in doing so
demonstrate that he was willing any day to be persecuted for preaching and
trusting in the cross of Jesus Christ for his salvation.
6.3.
The Judaisers
were trying to avoid persecution for the cross of Christ because of the fact
that they didn’t really know Christ in the first place. They had not allowed the cross of Christ to
do a work in their life. They didn’t
understand the importance of it.
6.4.
We as Christians
can try to avoid persecution for the cross of Christ by not telling anyone we
are a Christian, not sharing our faith in Christ with others, laughing at the
dirty jokes told at the office, telling dirty jokes ourselves, using curse
words, etc., etc. But, when we consider
what Jesus did on the cross for us because of His love for us, it is hard to
imagine that anyone would try to avoid persecution for Christ’s cross. Paul sure didn’t mind being persecuted for
the cross of Christ.
7.
VS 6:14-15 - “14
But may it never be that I would boast, except in the cross of our Lord
Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the
world. 15 For neither is
circumcision anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation.” – Paul tells
the Galatians that God forbid that he should boast in anything except the cross
of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to him and
he to the world, for being circumcised or not is nothing, what really matters
is being a new creation
7.1.
Paul was a
boaster, but he was a boaster in only one thing: ‘in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ’. He boasted in the fact that God so loved the
world that he gave His only begotten Son to die on the cross for our sins and
so that through the cross He endured mankind might be reconciled to God.
7.2.
The Judaisers
gloried in circumcisions, a bloody act, Paul speaks of a wounding far more
severe, crucifixion, when he speaks of his boasting only in the cross of
Christ.
7.3.
In our American
church today, we have sort of glamorized the cross. Christ was crucified there and the cross is a
symbol that many wear around their necks and on jewelry, and churches place in
the front of the sanctuary and on top of their steeple. However, in Paul’s day when crucifixion was
actually used as a form of punishment, the cross brought to people’s minds
horribly disturbing thoughts and images.
For Paul to say that he boasted in the cross of Christ was probably a
shocking statement to many, especially those who were unfamiliar with Christianity.
7.4.
Paul refers here
to the work that the cross of Christ makes in the life of the believer,
speaking of this in first person terms.
He says that this world that is in rebellion against God, it has been
crucified to him, and he has been crucified to it. In other words, Paul had died to his old
sinful nature that was in alignment with this rebellious world, and, the world
no longer held the same allure to him any longer. He was dead to worldly desires and ambitions,
the sinful pleasures and possessions that this rebellious world has to offer.
8.
VS 6:16 - “16
And those who will walk by this rule, peace and mercy be upon them,
and upon the
8.1.
Those who glory
in the cross of Christ and are likewise crucified to this rebellious world, and
to whom the world is crucified to them, they ‘walk by this rule’ (or
principle), and Paul pronounces God’s ‘peace and mercy’ to be upon them.
8.2.
Paul also
pronounces a blessing upon ‘the
8.3.
Who is ‘the
Israel of God’. The Bible Knowledge
Commentary has written the following about what this phrase ‘the Israel of God’
refers to: “While some believe that “
9.
VS 6:17 - “17
From now on let no one cause trouble for me, for I bear on my body the
brand-marks of Jesus.” – Paul tells the Galatians that from this point
forward that they are to let no one trouble him, for he in his own body bore
the brand-marks of Jesus
9.1.
In this bold
statement, Paul calls upon the Galatians with expectancy to ‘let no one
cause trouble for’ him. He trusts
that they will not allow those who preach another gospel, one of works and
which does not rely upon faith in Christ plus nothing, to be purged from their
midst. Being purged from the Galatian’s
midst, these Judaisers will no longer cause Paul worry and concern.
9.2.
The Judaisers
were doing all that they were doing to avoid persecution for the cross of Jesus
Christ, however Paul gloried only in the cross of Jesus Christ. They sought to avoid persecution, however he
bore on his ‘body the brand-marks of Jesus’.
9.3.
In Paul’s day, a
man’s animals as well as his slaves would often have his master’s name branded
into their body. Paul had suffered
tremendous persecution because of his faith in Christ and preaching of the gospel,
and his brand marks were the scars and deformations of his body that had
occurred because of being beaten, whipped, stoned, etc. by his Jewish brethren
according to the flesh. Paul was branded
for Christ.
10.
VS 6:18 - “18
The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit, brethren. Amen.” – Paul
declares that the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with the spirit of the
Galatians
10.1.
Paul began by
commending the Galatians to the ‘grace’ of God (vs 1:6), and he likewise
ends the letter the same way. He begins
and ends on ‘grace’.
10.2.
The Christian
life is all about God’s grace.
11.
CONCLUSIONS:
11.1.
The book of
Galatians is all about grace, are you walking in that grace?
11.2.
Are you trusting
in Jesus and what He did on
11.3.
Have you given up
any hope of being good enough to deserve salvation and God’s blessings?
11.4.
Continue doing
good, do good to all men, but especially those of the household of faith.