Do Not Give Up

Audio Player

The boy was just one year old and very thin. He was naked, filthy and sat alone crying for food on a dusty road in Southern Ethiopia. He had no name. His unmarried mother, barely more than a child herself, was dead. She had died of a fever, untreated and alone. The boy and his mother were outcasts - not accepted by the locals. There was some story of an unknown father.

The few neighbours had hastily buried the young woman, then collected their tools and jackets and hurried away. They didn't want to be involved any further. No one bothered about the boy. No one wanted him.

Just then a man called Takke walked though the small village. He was hard-working farmer who had recently heard the good news about Jesus and, together with his wife and family, had become a Christian. To him, one of the amazing aspects of the Gospel was that God had 'adopted him' into His family.

He had read in his Bible that God had, by Jesus Christ, adopted us to himself as sons. Then he read that we were no longer in bondage but free because we received 'God's Spirit of adoption' and we 'belong' to His family. He also read that God redeemed us by the death of Jesus on the cross to adopt us as His sons and gave us his Holy Spirit in our hearts to cry, 'Abba Father'. This was wonderful news and it had gripped his heart and mind.

As Takke passed the village he heard about the sudden death of the unmarried young woman and then saw the little boy on the road. He asked, but no one wanted the boy. 'He will soon die or the hyenas will eat him' said a man who shrugged his shoulders and turned away.

So Takke took him home. His wife was initially surprised but she fed, washed and clothed him. When she heard the story she said, 'Let him be our child. He is black, not brown like our other children, but he will be one of us'. They named him Desalegn, which means 'I have joy' and he grew up as Takke's son. The concept of adoption was not known to this tribe - the nearest equivalent was when a family would take a child of a relative who died into their home and raise it for the relative but that child always kept his dead father's name and would only inherit from his own father.

By contrast, Desalegn grew up as a member of Takke's family. He did everything the other children did. They were all treated the same and in time Desalegn became a Christian and a preacher, even facing imprisonment for his faith in Jesus. This true story is one of many from the extraordinary account of how the gospel came to a remote region of Africa, called 'Warriors of Ethiopia' - available on the bookstall.

Many years later when Takke was dying, he called his four boys together and said, "I loved you all. Keep following the Lord. Teach your children as I have taught you. Desalegn, I adopted you as my son. I gave you my name and fed and clothed and educated you. You are mine. Now I want you and the other boys to equally share all of my property. Soon I am going to die. I am going to my Father who adopted me."

At the funeral Desalegn spoke, which shocked everyone. That role was reserved for the heir. How could he be equal with the sons?! He told the story of his adoption as a boy and then his second adoption into God's family, quoting from Galatians 4:7 and saying, "I was a slave of sin, of Satan, of death but I was saved and became a son and heir. By God's grace alone, because Jesus shed his blood for us, we can all be free from... eternal death. By faith we can become God's children and inherit all His riches in Christ."

We're almost at the end of our studies in the letter that Paul first wrote to the Galatians church - we've arrived at Chapter 6. If that wonderful news of what Jesus has done and made possible for us has not yet gripped your heart and mind, you may have missed the whole point of the letter!

Look at the beginning of verse 7. Paul says, 'Do not be deceived...'. That could easily be a summary of the whole book. The reason Paul wrote to them was to make sure they were not taken in (or deceived) by a group in the church who were teaching something that sounded convincing, but was total rubbish! They were saying that in order to become a Christian there were certain rituals and Old Testament laws that we need to keep. In other words - if you're a good little boy or a good little girl, God will be happy with you and will reward you. Totally rubbish!

We are adopted as God's children as a free gift. It's grace - undeserved, unearned acceptance that depends ONLY on what Jesus has done for us - and not even a little bit on what we have done for him! Verse 7 again: Paul says:

Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap. 8For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.

That's pretty deep and there's plenty of discussion on how exactly to understand these words, but let's stick with the main idea here. This is basically a warning. v7 is picture from farming - though you do not need to be a farmer to understand it! It's pretty basic, and one of those rules that does not have an exception! If you plant strawberry seeds, don't expect a crop of grapes! What we sow, is what we will reap. If you want sweetcorn, plant sweetcorn. Got it? Verse 8 then gives us two possible seeds that can be sown and with two possible results. One is a terrible crop: corruption (in the sense of death and decay rather than bribery). The other is amazing: eternal life.

This is a warning not to sow to your own flesh and encouragement to sow to the Spirit. But what does that mean?

It's what he was been talking about for the whole letter. To sow to the flesh is to stop trusting only in Jesus for our righteousness. When we try to earn our own salvation, or choose something other than Jesus as our saviour, or try and add something to the gospel of free grace or seek to earn our own righteousness that seed can only produce one thing: death and destruction.

Don't panic, that is a constant temptation for every Christian and it doesn't mean we cease to be Christians saved by grace if we see signs that we're once again falling into that way of thinking and acting. But it does mean we need to repent and take it seriously. There is, however, a clear warning here that if we give up on the gospel, we will ultimately reap what we have sown. So Paul tells us, again, that we need to keep trusting in the gospel alone, to live by the Spirit.

What difference will all this make to us? How will a community of people who have taken on board the message of Galatians live? How will we know if we are living by the Spirit? Gal 5:25 says 'If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit.'

He then goes on to show us that walking by the Spirit means serving one another in love. Look at v9-10:

And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up. 10So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith.

Did you spot the repetition? Let us do good to everyone. That's the key principle here- the Spirit helps us to love our neighbour as ourselves, as 5:14 put it. That is how we know that we have taken on board the gospel. That is what happens when we walk by the Spirit.

The passage applies that general principle in three specific areas, and in the time we have left, we'll look at each of these in turn.

1. Restore Christians Who Have Sinned

Look at v1:

Brothers and sisters, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted.

There are two individuals here. 1) A 'Brother or a sister... who is spiritual', meaning one who has or walks by the Spirit. In other words - all Christians! Not just ministers or a special pastoral team. 2) Someone 'caught in any transgression'. I think that means caught as in 'found out', rather than 'trapped'. We all sin of course- but this person has somehow had their sin exposed to you (perhaps by sinning against you) or because something they have done has become known in public.

How should we deal with someone like that? The principle is 'let us do good to everyone'. What does that look like? What should we do when they have come clean, confessed and are sincerely wanting to put things right with God and with others? We are to restore him, or her. That means reminding and reassuring them that Jesus has paid on the cross for the forgiveness for all sin. It means we are to forgive them ourselves, and not expecting them to keep saying sorry or earn back your acceptance. We are to do it with gentleness and humility, without arrogance knowing that 'There but for God's grace in my life, go I'. And we will not give the message or believe that I would never do anything like that. That is what it looks like to walk by the spirit. And you can only do this if you are living by the spirit.

Maybe that has brought to your mind a specific person or situation? Is there someone you need to seek forgiveness from? Or someone you need to help restore, who's weighed down by the burden of their sin?

We are to do good to everyone and that means we are to restore Christians who have sinned.

2. Look After Each Other as Family

v2: 'Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ.'

This is pretty simple to understand - we need to help with one another's burdens in life whatever they are. It's less easy in reality, because it means getting seriously involved in one another's lives. How else will we know what others are struggling with? It also means letting others know where you are struggling - sometimes no one knows how they can help you because you've simply not asked for help. It's to be mutual support - I help you with your struggle and you help me with mine. No such thing as a professional distance here, or pride... Verse 3:

For if anyone thinks he is something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself. But let each one test his own work, and then his reason to boast will be in himself alone and not in his neighbour. 5For each will have to bear his own load.

Here is that word deception again - if we believe we can impress God by what we do we must have quite a high opinion of ourselves. But we're mistaken, deceived. We are really nothing, in other words we cannot impress God. We can try, but that just turns us into competitors and rivals in the battle to earn the most rewards from God. So we compare ourselves to one another and our focus is on our own spiritual performance, which means I will not really be looking out for the needs and burdens of others. True, I may try and be nice to them to earn a reward but that's not the same as being spiritual team mates or family and loving others as I have been loved by Jesus who died for me on the cross.

The gospel frees us to love and serve others, as we live to please our father. He has given each one of us our own load - our responsibilities before him - and he knows our strengths and weaknesses, the opportunities we have and the difficulties we face. We need to examine our lives, not in comparison to our neighbour, but only to see whether we are walking according to the Spirit. In the final judgment, we each will answer for our own lives.

So, v10, 'as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith'.

So what opportunities do you have to help carry someone else's burden? I know many of you already do this and know that it can be hard and costly, which is why we're encouraged in v 9 to not grow weary of doing good.

So we need to keep working on this. Let me give you one example. Ed Shaw is the pastor of a church is Bristol who has written a book called 'The Plausibility Problem'. In it he shares honestly his person pain in dealing with issues of same-sex attraction while upholding a clear and Biblical position on marriage and sex. In a chapter all about the church as a family, he says this:

But this reality has been lost in many of our churches. We pay lip service to the family language, but the experience is gone. Mums, dads and their 2.4 children tend to settle in quickly, but you can arrive as a single parent, a divorcee, a widow or widower, a single man or women for whatever reason, and you find that people don't know what to do with you – unless you are in your twenties and can join the singles group (and get married quick).

He actually spends the rest of the chapter giving examples of how well his church family have looked after him. But he also says this:

When church feels like a family, I can cope with not ever having my own partner and children. When it hasn't worked is when I have struggled most. The same–sex attracted Christians I've met who are suffering most are those in churches that haven't grasped this at all and that don't even notice these individuals.

He encourages us all to look after each other as family - and challenges those who don't feel supported by saying, 'don't wait for others to make this happen. do something yourself!'

3. Support Your Bible Teachers

One who is taught the word must share all good things with the one who teaches.

It's not obvious why Paul goes on to apply the principle of doing good to everyone to those who teach the Bible, but perhaps it is was an area the Galatians were struggling with.

In any case it's just the same principle, this time applied to the needs of Christian workers who teach God's word. We are to support our Bible teachers, and by extension that includes those set aside to serve in such a way as to enable those teachers to keep the ministry of the word and prayer a priority and those sent out from our church to do this elsewhere. That support includes giving towards financial needs. The language is significant - we support them by sharing with them, rather than paying a salary. We give out of love, to share their burden. Which also means that supported Bible teachers need to view their role not as a job to earn money but as an opportunity to love and meet the needs of those they serve.

Two thirds of our church budget goes directly on financially supporting our staff, and as you know there is significant shortfall in this year's regular giving. If you are able to give towards that need, we'd appreciate hearing from you in the next week, which will help us plan necessary next steps.

Share all good things includes financial support, but is not limited to that. So how else can we support our Bible teachers?

Perhaps I can speak personally for a moment. I'm hugely grateful for the financial support I've received over the last 17 years on staff- I know how much of a sacrifice that is for so many here. I've plenty of personal examples of how 'all good things' have been shared with me and my family over the years and on behalf of the whole staff, can I say thank you? We don't often get to say it, but it is appreciated.

And can I also say that especially at such a significant period in our church life, I would ask you to pray for us. I personally feel acutely the weight of responsibility that comes with teaching God's word and the desire to do that faithfully and clearly. There are many decisions to be made- both small and large - and that too can feel a burden. I'm aware too of many individuals who need care and support and feel my limitations. Your prayers with and for us do more than you can possibly imagine.

We have been adopted into God's family and are called to walk by the spirit. That means Restoring Christians who have sinned, looking after each other as family and supporting those who teach us the Bible.

Lets pray.

Back to top