Galatians 6:6-18 "Sharing, Sowing, Reaping, Boasting"
I. Sowing And Reaping (vs. 7-10) Does Paul contradict the rest of Galatians here?
Doesn't it sound like Paul is saying "Do right and God with bless you, do wrong and He will zap you!"? But
Paul isn't that stupid -- actually what he is saying flies right in the face of Western culture -- and probably right in the
face of what some of us believe!
Paul is saying that just as there is an objective order in the physical realm, so there is also an objective order in the
moral/spiritual realm! Western people believe that what you plant, you harvest in the physical realm (if you plant
corn you don't get tomatoes), but Paul is saying this is true in the moral realm as well -- no matter what you believe in
your heart or how hard you believe it. Most people think that if you believe something is moral than it is moral for
you but not for people who don't believe it. But this is simply not true, and you don't really believe this anyway!
A. What you believe has no effect on the truth in the physical realm. It doesn't really matter whether or not you
believe in gravity -- you are subject to it, that's why you don't go around jumping off of buildings!
B. How you live shows what you really believe! (ex. Erin Brockovich and the drinking water) You believe there is
an objective moral order -- because you get outraged! Tim Keller says, " Do you believe that rape is wrong no matter
what the rapist believes? As soon as you say there are things people should or should not do, then you are admitting
that Paul is right and that Western culture is wrong."
C. Paul says there is an organic moral order! You are sowing something -- if you break God's laws they break you.
"God is not mocked" means that the universe is linked, and if you break God's design, it will affect you (see Numbers
32:23) God's laws are not simply "busy-work" or His attempt to spoil your fun -- they are a revelation of what you
were made for! He is the Creator and the Lawgiver! If you sow to the flesh you will reap destruction (and remember
both moral and immoral people sow to the flesh -- i.e. try to be their own savior) God says it is bad for you to not
forgive and it will hurt you to not be generous.
D. But… very few of the things God says not to do feel bad right away. Sin generally feels good at first but
eventually enslaves you and ruins you. This means:
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You need a longer perspective! You are living in a fantasy world if you think there are no consequences
tomorrow for the way you are living today. It is so easy to only look at the immediate results and thus become
weary in well-doing (vs. 9) or careless in how we live.
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When you see a law that doesn't make sense, you now know the general reason (even if you don't know
the particular reason) for it. The moral law teaches you what you were made for and what will hurt you -even if you don't know the particular reason why!
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If you only obey when it seems “reasonable” to you, what does this reveal about the real source of
authority in your life?
II. Boasting In The Cross (vs. 11-16)
A. Paul now writes in huge letters to focus us where he is focused -- the cross! Again he flies right in the face of
our culture. Most people say, "What matters most is not what you believe (doctrine), but how you live." Paul says
exactly the opposite!
B. "May it never be!!!" (vs. 14) Paul uses very strong language here -- he says there is one thing necessary and it is
not what Jesus taught but what He did! Paul doesn't say he boasts in the ethics of Jesus, (love your neighbor, the
beatitudes, or the sermon on the mount), he doesn't say he boasts in the miracles of Jesus. Paul says the thing of
central importance is the cross!
C. This is Jesus' attitude as well. That's why after Peter finally confesses who Jesus is, then Jesus begins to teach
that he must go to Jerusalem to die. But what does Peter do? He begins to rebuke Jesus! Peter was fine with Jesus
teaching people how to live but he didn't want to hear anything about Him dying. What does Jesus do? Well, He
doesn't say, "OK Peter, you have your belief and I have mine" -- He says "Get behind me Satan!" Jesus tells Peter he
is in the grips of Satan if He wants to focus on the ethical teaching without the cross! (see Matthew 16)
D. In fact, this is the attitude of the whole Bible! Tim Keller points out that, if the gospels are seen as mere
biographies, they really are pretty lousy biographies. Consider the Gospel of John, it barely mentions the birth of Jesus
but spends almost half of the book dealing with the last week of His life -- that is a pretty unbalanced biography. And
to make matters worse, John tells us that he had tons more stuff that he could have included -- but he doesn't!
(see John 21:25) Doesn't that bug you? Haven't you ever wanted to scream, "John, you spent 3 years with Jesus, and
you spent 40 days after His resurrection listening to Him teach all kinds of things -- why didn't you include more? I
needed that!" John says, no you didn't, I gave you what you needed, I focused on what you needed -- I focused on the
cross, and if you have that, you have what you need!
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This is one reason why WWJD can't be the Biblical ethic because if it was, the gospel writers would have
given us more examples of His decision making rather than focusing on the cross!
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There are churches all over the place who say, "It doesn't matter what you believe about all of these
"doctrines" as long as you live like Jesus lived" (Ironically it used to be only liberal churches who said this
but now most evangelicals say this as well!) But in these very same churches, usually there whole worship
service is centered around the Lord's Supper -- around His death not His teaching! Jesus instituted the Supper
to keep us focused on what really matters -- His death!
III. Do You Boast In The Cross Or The Flesh?
A. Paul gives us a little test to see if we "get it", he says those who don't get it will avoid the cross to avoid being
persecuted. But why does preaching the cross bring persecution? Because the cross is offensive (as Paul explains
back in Gal 5:12) Tim Keller says, "You can't taste the sweetness of the cross until you've been offended by it." The
cross offends everyone because everyone is trying to be there own savior and is full of pride!
B. The cross offends some because it is the greatest monument to our wickedness!
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Do you believe that all good people can know God without knowing Jesus? If you do, then Jesus' death
makes absolutely no sense and is actually repugnant! (illustration from Roger Nicole re: the burning
building. Did Jesus die just to show His love without it really being necessary?) "Either there is no other way to
be saved and Jesus' death makes sense, or there are other ways and His death is repugnant! But the one thing you can't
say is that Jesus died on the cross and that's wonderful, but I think all good people everywhere can find God. That's
impossible! Have some guts! And suddenly, you start to feel the offense of the cross." (Tim Keller)
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Many people hate this because it is so exclusive! But the view that all good people everywhere can find God
is exclusive too -- it excludes moral failures and weak, dependent people! The cross is an inclusive exclusivity
because it embraces fools and those who become like children but it excludes the proud and the wise!
C. The cross offends conservatives because it says they are in the same boat as the weak! They realize that the
cross means that those who have worked hard to be good, moral people, who don't cheat, or get drunk, or have sex, are
in the same boat as those who have done all those things -- they both need the cross! (Rom 3:22 "There is no
difference!") Conservatives say this is dangerous! They want more stigma and shame attached to sin -- "How else can
we get people to live moral lives?"
D. So, how does the cross become power in your life? Not just by grudgingly accepting it and the message that it
brings “You are worse than you realize – you deserved death. But you are more loved than you could hope – because
Jesus took that death for you.” But by boasting in it!
• Did you ever stop to think how bizarre it is for Paul to tell us to boast in an instrument of execution?
How paradoxical that we are to boast in the thing that is our greatest critic. But it is also our only hope!
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Paul says the world will be dead to you if your boast is in the cross, it will not have power to worry you
or to entice you if your boast is in the cross! If something is controlling you today, your boast is not in the
cross. How do you defend yourself to yourself? That's what you boast in! (When you say, "Well at least I'm
not like that guy" you are boasting!) What makes you count? If it's not the cross it is enslaving you!
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We boast or glory in what we find beautiful. Have you seen the beauty of the cross? “His dying crimson,
like a robe, Spreads o’er His body on the tree; Then I am dead to all the globe, And all the globe is dead to me.” (Isaac
Watts verse from “When I Survey” that is left out of most hymnals.) Seeing the beauty of the cross changes you.
IV. Look For Mentors With Scars Who Still Have Joy! You need help to grow (vs. 6 ) and the best people to help
you are those with scars (vs. 17) – those who have known what is to suffer to following Christ. Do you know people
like that? If you’re one of them, would you offer your life, your story, your time, as a kingdom resource? We need
each other.