Spiritual Work Ethic

INTRO

I believe God so inspired Paul’s letter to the Galatians that it can still be used by the “Galatian” churches today. Galatians 6 can be summarized as “the spiritual work ethic.” We have a love/hate relationship in the church today with works. When it comes to salvation, it’s not about our works but God’s grace. However, as believers, we will develop a pattern of good works on the inside from the Holy Spirit living within us.

As Pastor Tom said when he taught Galatians 5, loving people should become natural. The fruit of the Spirit is supposed to be a matured fruit that comes out of our lives and becomes magnetic to those around us. Therefore, I believe there is a work ethic involved on behalf of the Spirit within us that doesn’t come from the law. In teaching chapter 6, I am not bringing a works ethic into spiritual salvation. There is meant to be an intentional flip from what the law says about performing works and what the Spirit leads us to do. It’s the tension between the flesh and the Spirit that is the entire subject of the book of Galatians.

TEACHING

Galatians 6:1-5: In verse 1, Paul told the Galatians that if someone had fallen, guilty of sin, those who knew about it were to handle it as the Spirit led them, because they too could be tempted. They were to respond by restoring the guilty one with meekness; a component of the fruit of the Spirit. Contrast the passages that explain the punishment for not following the law to these verses in Galatians. Paul instructs them to bear each other’s burdens as they fulfill the law of Christ (v. 2).

Note that the law accuses and shifts responsibility—if we sin, we know we sin. Sin is supposed to have consequences. The law made people into law enforcement officers, finding those committing sin and pushing them out. However, in the Spirit, we’re not trying to get rid of people but trying to bring them in. Verse 1 reminds us, we know ourselves better than anyone. Sin would easily overtake us if we were not controlled by the Spirit.

According to verses 4–5, we are no longer looking to be someone important but are happy to have life in the Spirit. We become kingdom-minded people. Because we live under the Spirit, we can forgive those who have sinned and repented. Because we live under the Spirit, we should quickly repent because we know what we have done.

I recently preached on this passage in my own church and told my congregation that one of the areas in the church where we struggle with is accountability. I told the congregation I want to love God with everything I am. I want to follow His truth and obey His Word. That is the desire of my heart. I explained that since they now had the standard of what I want my life to be like, they have a standard to which they can hold me to. I want that to be the captivating work of my life, and I want it to be visible to those who are around me. I then asked those who wanted to live their lives for Christ to stand. I told them to look at all those standing there together and bear each other’s burdens. That allows us to check on others, encourage them, and help them bear their burdens because we want them to make it in the kingdom of God. We should be able to commit ourselves to saying we love God, and we want people to hold us accountable to living that way. That opens up our understanding of these verses.

Galatians 6:6–10: Verse 6 is the law of reciprocation that those who teach/preach God’s Word receive good things in return. The Spirit, not the law, desires this. The law makes this individual; the Spirit makes this corporal. In verse 7 is the universal law— what a man sows he will also reap. If a man sows fleshly things, he will reap fleshly things. But the man who sows to the Spirit reaps eternal life (v. 8). We should not be weary of doing good, for we reap when we are obedient (v. 9). Therefore, we should do good to all people as we are given the opportunity (v. 10).

CLOSING

All of us struggle with the flesh/spirit concept. It is easy to chase things that satisfy us for the moment. It is MUCH harder to wait for the reward when culturally the reward is immediate. When someone sees something they want in someone else, they get jealous. The Jews were supposed to be the people everyone else wanted to be like, but they didn’t understand their Messiah. So, God pulled out another group of people who are to have exemplary lives that draw people to Him so they become jealous of what the people of God have.