Latest / Circle of Life / Rooted & Renewed
Transcript
- Christian Williams: Welcome back to the podcast from Kairos Student Ministry. Our goal is simple, connecting the Bible, theology, and everyday life so parents, students, leaders can learn to think, live, and love like Jesus. Each week we break down our previous Wednesday night, study in about fifteen minutes. Today we are jumping into Galatians six, one through ten. To set up where Paul is taking us today, picture this. One of my favorite places to visit is California. Don't hit it against me. I'm not talking about downtown San Francisco. Although one of my favorite memories of driving through downtown San Francisco is passing by the docks of millions of sea lions piled up. pretty wild, definitely not a Georgia thing. but one thing I love most about California is the wilderness. I grew up in Georgia, right near the Appalachian Mountains, right if you're in Walton County, it's about a two hour drive. and I have family up there and Helen, Cleveland, all that area has always been a special place in my heart. But the wilderness out west is on an entirely different level. Walking through places like Yosemite or Big Tree State Park completely blows your mind. I remember visiting two, three years ago at the end of May. It was about twenty degrees outside still. Snow was covering the ground, and I was standing there in shorts. Right? Picture that, you know, me in shorts in the middle of twenty-degree weather in Big Tree State Park in California. And when I looked up, all around me, we're walking through my mind is just blown. I was with some friends and we were just walking around this state park at some of the biggest trees and the biggest stumps I have ever seen in my life. while I was there and this is something I, you know, I guess learned about back in elementary school, but it's something that you don't really think about again until you're actually standing in front of it. but we were just kind of talking about all the trees and I remember my friend was Talking about the redwoods and the sequoias, specifically the redwoods, and he said, Yeah, these trees can grow to be about 350 feet tall. But what blew my mind about what he said next was that the roots of these trees only go about five or six feet deep. Now my wife is five two, right? A whopping five two. And some of these roots don't even go as deep into the ground as she is tall. Now for a three hundred and fifty foot tree, that is shockingly shallow. California gets fierce coastal winds and torrential rains, and if a redwood stood completely untethered in an open field, that wind would knock it flat on the ground because its rootbed cannot support its weight. The secret to redwoods is that their roots grow horizontally, they do not grow vertically. They find the roots of the redwood next to them and they intertwine. And that tree locks into the next one and the next one and the next one. They form a subterranean network that supports the entire forest. They share nutrients, and when fierce storms blow in, the collective strength of the grow grove holds them upright. The church is meant to be a redwood forest. We are made in the image of God, but because of our fallen nature, our personal roots are shallow. Left to ourselves our default attitudes of selfishness, isolation, pride, right? We stumble, we mess up, and on our own, just like a lone redwood, we topple, we'd fall right over. Remember the context of this letter. Paul was looking at the Galatian church on the brink of death. They were turning on one another, relying on their own fleshly performance, rather than on the family God had given them in the spirit. Yet Paul writes with deep hope. And the reason he has hope is because he knows that God is faithful and he will never allow his church to fail. Yes, the church will stumble. Yes, the church will make mistakes, but because of Christ as the head, it will never ultimately fail. Here's the main point of the text. Paul urged the Galatians to live by the Spirit by bearing one another's burdens, humbly examining themselves, and giving sacrificially to the faith community. And here is our main point of the sermon. By the Spirit, embody Christ's love and how you carry, care for, and give to one another. That being said, grab your Bibles. Let's go to Galatians six, one through ten, and read it together. This is what Paul says. He says, Brothers and sisters, if someone is overtaken in any wrongdoing, you who are spiritual, restore such a person with a gentle spirit, watching out for yourselves, that you also won't be tempted. Carry one another's burdens in this way that you may fulfill the law of Christ. For for anyone considers himself to be something when he is nothing, he deceives himself. Let each person examine his own work, and then he can take pride in himself alone and not compare himself with someone else. For each person will have to carry his own load. Let the one who is taught the word share all his good things with the teacher. Don't be deceived, God is not mocked. For whatever a person sows he will reap, because the one who sows in the flesh will reap destruction from the flesh, but the one who sows in the spirit will reap eternal life from the spirit. Let us not get tired of doing good, for we will reap at the proper time if we don't give up. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us work for the good of all, especially those who belong to the household of faith. Today we're looking at four essentials of spirit-led living. The first essential of spirit-led living is this: it's that by the Spirit Restore the fallen and bear one another's burden. Look closely at verse one. Paul says if someone is overtaken in any wrongdoing, you who are spiritual, restore such a person with a gentle spirit. Remember that Paul didn't write with a modern chapter break. Chapter six flows straight out of Galatians five, twenty-six, where he says, Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another. Notice the word overtaken. Paul is not describing someone who is decided to defiantly shake their fist at God and plunge headfirst into rebellion. It describes someone who was ambushed, caught off guard through daily compromises, spiritual fatigue, or wearing down in the fight against temptation until they collapsed. When a brother or sister collapses in sin, what is our natural human reflex? Too often in the church our reflex is gossip. We distance ourselves, talk behind their back, and Or disguise our gossip as compassion. Hey, I have a prayer request about so and so. But let me give you a little background story first. Sin produces crushing shame. People hide because they're terrified. The church will say, Look how weak you are. We don't want you around. Paul says to those walking in the Spirit, restore them. Restore them. In the Greek, Biblical gentleness here is like a surgeon resetting a compound bone fracture. The surgeon has to be firm, the bone must be aligned properly so it doesn't heal crooked. But the doctor is also exquisitely tender, taking great care not to fracture the limb further. Why do we restore them? With that kind of gentleness, a firmness, yet a gentleness, a tenderness? It was because 1 John 4 reminds us that we love because he first loved us. Christ did not crush us when we were his enemies, he died for us. The only difference between you and the person lying in the ditch of sin is the unmerited grace of God. Verse 2 commands, carry one another's burdens. In this way you will fulfill the law of Christ. The word for burden, baros, refers to a suffocating, heavy boulder that someone cannot carry alone. To carry a burden means stepping into someone's pain, listening when they hurt, and pointing them to Jesus, who said in Matthew eleven, Come to me all who are weary and carry heavy burden, and I will give you rest. Think of the climax of The Lord of the Rings, right? Return of the King, one of my favorite books slash movies. Frodo Baggins is crawling up the volcanic ash of Mount Doom, the ring of power hanging around his neck like an iron millstone. He collapses on the rocks and he tells his friend Sam, who had been traveling with them this entire time to destroy this ring of power, and he says, I can't recall the taste of food, nor the sound of water, nor the touch of vegetation. He says, I'm naked in the dark. There's no veil between me and the wheel of fire. I can see it with my waking eyes. Frodo had reached the end of his strength. And what does Sam say in response to Frodo and his burden? He says, Let's Be rid of it once and for all. Come on, mister Frodo. I can't carry it for you, but I can carry you. And then Sam hoists him onto his shoulders and carries him up. You cannot carry someone's sin away. Only Christ did that on the cross. You cannot magically snap your fingers and remove their grief. You can't carry their ring, but you can carry them. And where do you carry them? How far do you carry them? Well you carry them far enough that they may be carried to Christ, so that Christ can take their burden. And what is this law of Christ but to love the Lord your God and And to love your neighbor as yourself, that Jesus already paid for their sins on the cross, don't charge to them more than Christ has already paid for. All right, the second essential By the Spirit, resist the lie of self-righteous comparison. Look at verses three and five. It says, For if any one considers himself to be something when he is nothing, he deceives himself. Let each person examine his own work, and then he can take pride in himself alone. And not compare himself with someone else. For each person will have to carry his own load. I want you to notice the contrast, notice the shift. Verse two tells us to carry one another's burdens, but verse five says each person will have to carry his own load. Paul is not contradicting himself. In verse two, the burden, or boros, remember that, is a crushing boulder that requires community help. In verse five, the word for load, fortion Refers to a soldier's daily march pack. Paul is laying down a critical truth. When life drops an unbearable boulder on a brother, say that five times fast, get under it with him. But when it comes to your own personal choices, obedience, and character before God, you carry your own backpack. You cannot outsource personal responsibility. Human nature loves comparison because comparison is an easy shortcut to synthetic holiness. We see a brother stumble and we secretly think, Well, I might have some issues, but at least I'm not doing what they did. We use someone else's brokenness to feel better about our own compromises. Paul says, Don't compare yourself to a brother who stumbled. Examine your own life before God's holiness. When you look to Jesus, you realize how desperately imperfect you are and how much you need his grace. There's a famous story about a heavyweight champion, Muhammad Ali on a plane. Ali did not buckle his seatbelt. The flight attendant walked up to Muhammad Ali and said, Mr. Ali, would you please fashion your seatbelt? Ali looked back at her and grinned and he said, Well, Superman don't need no seatbelt. Without skipping a beat, she looked right back and said, Well, Superman don't need no plane, Mr. Ali. Buckle up. And guess what? Muhammad Ali buckled his seatbelt. No matter who you are. no matter what plane you're on, every single one of us needs the seatbelt of God's grace. Growing in maturity is not outgrowing your need for the seatbelt. It's realizing that without it, you face total destruction. In verse 5, Paul uses a future active indicative verb. What that means is that this word for load is a future action. It's a future reality. Each person will carry his own load. Paul is pointing to judgment day. You will stand before God and give an account for how you lived and how you treated your brothers and sisters. You cannot lie to God. He will not be mocked. The good news of the gospel is that when you stand before God, Christ stands in the gap. He took the condemnation of our load upon himself on the cross, died with it, and left it buried in a grave. All right. The third essential By the Spirit invest earthly resources in advancing the kingdom. Look at verse six. It says, Let one who has taught the word share all his good things with the teacher. Why does Paul bring this up? In the Galatian churches, false teachers were flooding in, twisting the truth and dismantling the church. The local faithful pastors were bivocational. They were grinding out long hours, right? Tent making jobs in the marketplace, whatever it was. Just to put food on the table, leaving them little time to study the scriptures and defend the flock against heresy or false teaching. Paul tells the believers, compensate your leaders so they are f equipped, fed, and given the time to study and fight fight dark forces well. Whenever we talk about finances and ministry, we have to talk we have to avoid two dangerous extremes. The first extreme we need to avoid is the congregational abuse. This is when a church operates with a corporate boss mentality. We pay your salary, so you do what we say. Or trying to keep the pastor poor under the twisted excuse of keeping him humble. The second, though, is on the other side, is the other extreme, the ministerial abuse. This is the prosperity gospel racket. Pastors exploiting this verse for multi million dollar private jets, luxury, and laziness. Spending their work days golfing and dodging biblical study under the guise of lay delegation are like, yeah, they just need to study the Bible. they'll be good on their own. Paul rejects both points to spiritual agriculture in verse seven and eight. He says, Whatever a person sows, he will also reap. The one who sows to his flesh will reap destruction from his flesh, but the one who sows in the spirit will reap eternal life from the spirit. Being saved by grace does not mean we get to mooch off grace. We cannot hoard our resources for selfish comfort and neglect our kingdom responsibilities. Everything we possess belongs to God. A mentor once shared a convicting shift in perspective. Instead of looking at a paycheck or a gift or whatever it is, instead of asking God, how much do you want me to give, ask God, how much of your money, of your resources do you want me to keep? Jesus modeled this in Gethsemane, sweating blood, facing the cross, he prayed, Father, not my will, but yours be done. This is the posture of a believer managing earthly resources, earthly responsibility for the kingdom. God, what is your will? What is your desire? All right, finally, the fourth and final essential by the Spirit, persevere in doing good to all. Look at verses nine and ten. Says, let us not get tired of doing good, for we will reap at the proper time if we don't give up. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us work for the good of all, especially for those who belong to the household of faith. Doing good is emotionally and physically exhausting. Discipling students, carrying heavy burdens, serving faithfully, and sacrificing resources can wear you down. This is why Paul gives this charge do not grow weary. The farmer doesn't plant a seed on Monday. And harvest on Tuesday. There are long, quiet seasons where seeds germinate out of sight in the dirt. In our churches, we can become dangerously obsessed with headcounts and numbers, assuming that bigger numbers automatically mean spiritual health. And just go look at Joel Osteen's church. He has massive crowds, hundreds of millions of dollars coming in, and his church is dead as a doornail. In the kingdom of God, the measurement of success is not numbers, it is faithfulness to the gospel. Think of pioneer missionaries who labored for 10, 20, 30 years in hard soils before singing seeing a single convert. By worldly business metrics, that looks like a failure. But in the economy of God, that missionary did more for the kingdom than most people do in four lifetimes. Even if you never see the full harvest on this side of heaven, you will celebrate it in the new creation when we cast our crowns before the throne. Do not make the gospel about yourself. The gospel is about Jesus saving sinners and saved sinners being an intertwined light for the kingdom, doing good especially to the household of faith. All right, to put all these threads together, step back and look at the whole picture. From the garden to the cross, to the early church in Galatia and into eternity, God is building a unified people. When we try to live the Christian life on our own, our shallow five foot roots cannot withstand the storms. But when we lock arms in the spirit, carry one another's burdens, putting away comparison, investing our resources, and persevering in doing good, we become an immovable forest of grace. A watching dying world looks at that community and says, I want what they have. And we can answer, come and receive it freely in Jesus Christ. Before you go about your day, sit with these two questions. If you are in Christ, where are you trying to stand alone, like an isolated tree, instead of letting your church family help carry your burdens? Are you harboring gossip, self-righteous comparison, or holding back your resources from God's work? If you have never trusted Christ truly, how will you stand before God on judgment day when you have to carry your own load? Will you turn today to the Savior who carried the load for you on the cross? Take a moment right now, lay down your pride, submit to the Spirit, and rest in the finished work of Jesus. You may be a disciple who makes disciples and makes disciples of all nations. Let us pray. Father, we love and we praise you. We thank you for Christ and for your spirit and for salvation. God help us to just glean from these words. God, glean from this text. God, as you just so graciously through Paul spoke to the Galatians, and then through the centuries carried the truth of this letter to us today, that we may be people who stand firm against false teaching. We stand firm against dark forces, and we stand firm Together, knowing that we are united by the Spirit, the Spirit that causes us to cry out, Abba, Father. I pray you help us be disciples who make disciples, that we are unified in how we are compassionate, carrying one another's burdens, but also to God as we look to our own load, to our own actions, to our own responsibilities, that we we are living a life characterized by repentance and confession, submitting our will and our desires to you, knowing That you are the good gift giver, and that where you are leading us is better than any place we want to go on our own. God, we praise you and we need you. We pray all these things in the name of the Father, and the Spirit, and the Son. Amen. All right, guys. Look forward to seeing you next time as we walk through the scriptures together. Grace and peace.