11 Galatians 6:1-10 Loving our neighbors

SPEAKER_00: This is Wednesday in the Word, a women's ministry of Trinity Presbyterian Church in Charlottesville, Virginia. Today is November 16, 2011. Our passage is Galatians chapter 6, verses 1 through 10, and our teacher is Terry Weiser. For more talks in this series, please visit our website, www.wednesdayintheword.com. SPEAKER_01: Did any of you have any flesh spirit wars over the week? I um, you know, I I spent a lot of week I had a very busy week this week, and um I spent a lot of time trying to be intentional about thinking about that. And I just I I think I didn't realize how um prevalent spirit-flesh wars are, because they were very prevalent in my life this week. And um I think the other thing I didn't quite um focus in on before as much as I should have is uh just how difficult it is to walk step by step with the spirit and that that is a very high calling and it's something we need to be constantly aware of. I think part of the problem for me is that I because it was such a busy week is that I found myself just wanting to do the next thing, just kind of moving along, just doing the next thing, and forgetting that there is another power available to me, that I don't just have to to do this and do this and do this, that that even the mundane things have importance in the eyes of God. And um it made me think of Paul's prayer in Ephesians 1 in verse 19. Paul is praying for the church at Ephesus, and and one of the things he prays for them is this he says, That they may know what is the exceeding greatness of his power toward those who believe, according to the working of his mighty power which he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places. In other words, what Paul is praying, he is praying that the church at Ephesus would understand that the same power which raised Jesus from the dead is also dwelling in them. And I think that's a hard thing for us actually to comprehend. That just is is too much for me. That's too high for me to understand, and yet that is what Paul is praying, that we would understand that. And and by that, Paul isn't talking about great things, great big things. What he is talking about is what Jesus did. It's laying down our lives for one another, that we would realize that as the Spirit works in our hearts, that He is creating in us this love that is a sacrificial love toward one another, and that that He is giving us the power that we might walk in that. So it's a very encouraging thing. It's seeking the other's highest good. And um, I don't know about you, but when when I start thinking about sacrificial love, what happens in my heart is that's when the spirit flesh wars start, because I'm really, really want to feed my own flesh. So we're gonna talk about more of that this morning in our lesson. But first let me just give a quick summary of what we talked about last week. If you remember, last week we had four major themes that we looked at, and and be and before we did that, I gave you this image of a bridge and two polluted streams. And I said that that the bridge image is this narrow bridge that we walk as we walk by the spirit. And underneath that bridge are these two polluted streams. One is the flesh, one is license or legalism. And we said that we have to keep our eyes on the spirit to walk and stay on that bridge to keep from falling off on either side. And so that was to give form to what we talked about. So then we had these four larger themes. Excuse me. And um, the first thing that we said is that that the Holy Spirit, that Jesus has come into our hearts and given us the Holy Spirit that we might have freedom. And that that freedom, when it that freedom actually has certain boundaries. And we said that the boundary that Paul is helping us to see is it's about love. It's it's about um loving one another. That's what Paul is focusing our hearts on. Not that it excludes loving God, of course, because we can only love one another as we as we love God, as we understand his love for us. That's how love for one another flows. But but Paul now is focusing in on that idea of of loving one another, of of in this world that we're walking in today, that we would serve one another, that we would lay down our lives. And so we said that freedom to, in order to be free, that we have to walk in love. That's what that's what freedom is. Freedom is love. And when we're set free from just loving ourselves, from being bound to our flesh, then we are free to love one another. And that's one of the freedoms that we have in Christ Jesus. The second major theme that we looked at last week was that freedom living brings war. And we said that is because our flesh is still active in our hearts, it's very active. And even though this flesh has a terminal illness, it and it will not succeed, that the that the spirit and the flesh are in a war. And we said that it's a bloody battle in our hearts, and we begin to feel feel that day by day. And so we have to keep our eyes on the spirit as we do that. And then the third thing we talked about last week was that we said, well, okay, if we are in these spirit-flesh wars, help us understand what what is the flesh. And Paul gave us a list of things that um that come from the flesh, and but we kind of broke it down and we had this um definition of what the flesh is. And we said, the flesh is that part of me that does not want what God wants. It wants what I want. It's my corrupt human nature in all of its weakness and depravity, and it's always focused in on self. Okay. So that was the third thing. And then finally, we looked at spirit living, and we said that first and foremost, the the spirit's highest ministry is to glorify Jesus Christ. That's why the Spirit came, is that he might glorify Jesus Christ. And and the way that the Spirit glorifies Christ is by making us more like him. And to do that, we looked at several ways that the Spirit might do that, that Paul talked about. But basically, we said it meant that we must be aware, that we must be attentive and keep our eyes on the Spirit step by step, that that the Spirit would work in us and impress truth upon us, guide us in the way we walk, help us crucify the flesh. And we said some of the ways that we do that, that the Holy Spirit begins to work on us is that it's through reading Scripture and allowing the Holy Spirit not only to impress upon us the beauty of Jesus Christ in us, but also the power of the flesh, and that we would begin to crucify this our the flesh in our hearts. And we said we keep in step through the through prayer, knowing our every moment need of the Holy Spirit, and that we keep in step with the Spirit by going to worship with one another and bowing our hearts together before the Lord and giving him his due and understanding that he is our only hope and our desire and our joy. And we said we we keep in step with the Spirit by serving in the community of one another, and we keep in step with the Spirit by loving those who do not know the Lord Jesus yet. And we keep in step um constantly, it's a renewal in our hearts that we rehearse all that Jesus has done for us and all He has set us free from in the flesh, from of the flesh, I mean. So all of that we said is as that begins going, as we are doing those things, something's going on in our hearts, and and that means that we're being changed from the inside out, that there is fruit growing in our hearts, that the Holy Spirit has planted a seed in our heart, and that that is growing fruit and our character is beginning to change, that we're becoming more like Jesus step by step, and we're growing in love and joy and peace and patience and kindness and goodness and faithfulness and gentleness and self-control. And we can begin to see that happen, that we're we're loving one another more, we're having more joy in our life because we're set free to know what we were made for. Anyway, so those things are going on, and those are the things we talked about last week. Well, this morning we're going to continue in this understanding of our need of the Spirit, keeping our eye on the Spirit and walking in rhythm with Him all of the time. And we're going to realize that, again, as I said earlier, it's going to take intentionality, it's going to take prayer, it's going to take concentration to do that. And I think that we find out that that we need to be aware of the Spirit at all times. And um, so we're going to um talk about the idea of what does it look like to love our neighbor. And we're getting, last week we we said, okay, last week we had these big things, and we said that's the blueprint. And today we're going to start using that blueprint to actually begin to build the house that God is making us to be. So that's what it's going to look like this morning. Now, we are going to, as we look at our life together, we're obviously going to be talking about this sacrificial love. And what we're going to be talking about is love in the body of Christ. That's mainly what Paul is talking about. And he's that doesn't minimize the call that we are to love those outside of the church. Absolutely, does not minimize that. But it does say that we have to begin here. We have to learn to love one another first, that we might go out and love what others outside of the church. And um again, we aren't talking about these huge things. It's just these everyday encounters with one another. And Paul is very specific about what that might look like. So let me pray for us and then we we'll begin. Father, um the more that we um read your word and understand this spirit-flesh war, the more we realize how broken we are and how much we need you. And I realize that this morning as I stand up here that, Lord, I I'm going to be talking about things that I struggle with and that I stumble in and how I need you. And Lord, would you help me to um use your word accurately to glorify your name and to say nothing that would be unworthy of you. So, Lord, would you teach our hearts today? And would you um grow that fruit in our hearts that we might be more like our Lord Jesus, in whose name we pray. Amen. Okay, um, I'm going to begin, and I'm I'm not going to read the whole passage at once, but I'm going to read it a few verses at a time. But we're going to begin somewhere, not in verse 1 of chapter 6, but we're going to begin in verse 25 of chapter 5. And and read 25 and 26. If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit. And we said that actually means keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another. Okay, and so if we if we're going to live by the Spirit, we have to keep in step with the Spirit. I've said that a million times, but I'm going to keep saying it. But anyway, now Paul is going to show us in verse 26. He says, okay, in verse 25, he says, walk by the Spirit, keep in step. Now he's going to show us in verse 26 why we need to keep our eyes on the Spirit. And um I think, well, he said, this is what he says. He says, let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another. Okay. Right away we can all say, Yep, I've got that, because of course I'm not supposed to be conceited, I'm not supposed to provoke you, I'm not supposed to envy you, I've got that. That's all flesh stuff, that's not walking in the spirit. And and we could move on because that's absolutely true. But I think that as I begin to unfold this, because this is just really telling what Paul has to say here, that as we look at this, we're going to find that this has a lot more to say to our hearts than at first glance. So I think you're going to recognize yourself here. I don't think you're going to like it, but I think you're going to recognize yourself. So let's begin and just kind of take this apart as we go forward. The first thing Paul says is let us not become conceited. And um the Greek word for the word conceited is very telling. It kind of unfolds this whole passage. Because that word is the Greek word, and I won't say this right, but here it is. The Greek word is kinodoks. And doces means glory. Okay, so docksis means glory, kino means without. So what Paul is saying is the word conceited that we've translated actually means without glory. It means a vain glory. So as we unfold this, what it what Paul is saying is that someone who is boasting or conceited is doing so because they are empty of glory. They feel empty of glory. It's that idea that that um we have this God-shaped vacuum and and we we need to have that filled up with God Himself. That um Augustine says our hearts are restless until they find their rest indeed. And so there is this part where Paul is saying, if we aren't, if we aren't realizing how full we are in Jesus Christ, we have this this need, this emptiness in our hearts, and we want to fill it up with a glory. We want to be significant, we want to have some meaning. And so Paul Paul says that that even though you may not realize it, is that that you have this emptiness, and when you have it, you're going to try to fill it up with some kind of glory. And he's then Paul tells us how we try to fill this up. He says, you either are provoking someone or you're envying one another. And the idea of the word provoke is to challenge to a contest. That's what that word means in the Greek. It means that I challenge you to a contest. Okay. So we're in a group of people and we're standing there, and you've all done it. I know you have. I know I have. You you stand there, and there's something, you feel this need to fill yourself up. You're not feeling real good about yourself. And so you try to figure out some way that you can do that. And you look at your audience and you try to think of something. Now, this is all going on in our mind. We're not actually thinking these steps. But so what do we do? Let's just say, use some big example that let's say um this is really true, but I haven't told anyone. But I went to Harvard and um and yeah, really, no, I didn't, but of course, I mean you can tell, but um anyway, um so let's say that that I went to Harvard and I was really big at Harvard, and I want you to know that. And so some way I find to bring that up in the conversation. And what happens is that fills me up with glory. That fills me up with a false glory, and it works for a little while, but I'm gonna have to keep doing that over and over and over again because that vacuum is still there. But what happens on the other side? Then you begin to envy. We we put you in the position of envying, and so what do you do in your heart? Well, you're gonna have to fill yourself up, so maybe you start judging me about that, or oh yeah, you think you're so hot, or whatever is going on, you begin to envy me. So what happens? The purpose of saying all that is why Paul is showing us that is that there is no way that we can love one another in that. That is poisonous to life in the spirit. It is absolutely poisonous, and it goes on all the time. It may be something about your children's grades that you use. Now, it's okay to talk about your kids. I'm not saying that. But when you are doing it to fill up something in your heart that is missing, that is what Paul is talking about. And Paul is saying, don't do that. He's saying, don't do that. You don't have to do that. You have glory in your heart. Jesus Christ has died for you. He lives in your heart, he has given you weightiness, he is filling you up, and you don't need to do that way. That if you if you are provoking one another and envying one another, you're forgetting of what your true glory is. You're forgetting about that. And so when when you begin to do that, Paul wants you to stop and think and remind yourself of what is going on in your heart. And Paul wants us instead to grow in the fruit of the Spirit so that we can love one another and not consume one another. We must crucify that way of living, and that way of living does not allow us to love one another. Okay, so with that important warning in our hearts, okay, Paul says, if we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another. And then Paul goes right in, that leads us right into chapter six, where Paul begins with the word brothers. And we're going to use this brothers, sisters, because what Paul is talking about, the spiritual family. That's what he's talking about here. So right away we know that Paul is talking to believers. He's going to end chapter six with the same word. He's going to end it with the word brothers. So the the information we're going to be talking about over the next two weeks is about what is going on in the church family, what is going on in our spiritual lives. So right away Paul starts that. And everything from start to finish is going to be that. So here's what Paul begins. He says, Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Just let me make a little parentheses. We're going to spend most of our time, though, we're going to go over the whole the whole part of what we have. But we're going to spend most of our time in verses 1 and 2, believe it or not. So let's take this apart. Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgressions, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Okay. What does it mean to be caught in a transgression? Well, what is going on here is that this is a believer, and what what evidently the commentators believe that what what Paul is talking about here is a believer who is stuck in a pattern of sin and probably is blind to it. For example, it might be anger. Maybe a believer is caught in a pattern of anger and he's just going through and destroying he or she uh uh destroying lives with that anger. He's caught in that sin, she's caught in that sin, and probably not even aware that it's going on. And Paul is saying, anyone, if if a brother is caught in any transgression, then you you begin to think there's something we need to to do about that. And he said, What should we do? Well, how does Paul answer that? Paul says, what we need to do is restore that person. And that word is so rich. The word restore means it it's a medical term, and it means to set a bone. It means to restore to the original condition. So what Paul is talking about that is that a brother is caught in a sin, and what you're supposed to do is turn that brother back, turn that sister back. You're supposed to mend that bone. You're supposed to come alongside and mend that bone. And um, one of the things, well, there's a couple of things we need to draw from this. First of all, it means that if you see someone and you observe over a period of time that they're caught in a sin, you cannot ignore it. You cannot. Paul is saying when you see that, you must come alongside your brother or sister. You must. You can't ignore it. And one of the things we find is, especially in our culture today. is that we're hesitant to do that. That we're afraid people will say we're judging. We're afraid people will say, who does she think she is? We don't want to get involved in the mess. What we would rather do is we'd rather stand back and judge that person and talk about him to someone else. Paul says, no, that's not what you do. That's not what you do in your life. Rather, what you do is you've got to restore that person to the condition they were before. If you don't, that bone will not heal right. If you don't help them in that transgression, they will never heal right. Someone has to come alongside and help them and that's what Paul is talking about. Well who is to do this? Paul says you who are spiritual. I know. I know what you're thinking. That's not me. That's not me. Okay that must mean elders or something like that. That doesn't mean me. That's not true. Because the person who is to do it, the the one who is spiritual really means the one who is walking by the spirit. In other words keeping step with the spirit and that's supposed to be all of us. We're supposed to be doing that. Obviously we don't do it perfectly but that's who Paul is saying walk by the spirit walk by the spirit and you can come alongside a brother and help them or a sister and help them when they're caught in a sin. And and one of the reasons we know that's what Paul is talking about it's someone who has um the fruit of the spirit growing in them because Paul says restore them with a spirit of gentleness. And that word gentleness um is the the definition of gentleness is someone who is patient and has a sweet temper toward God and others. Why do you have to have a sweet temple temper and be gentle? Because this is messy work and it's hard and and we don't want to do it. We don't want to come alongside one another when we're caught when someone's caught in a sin because setting that bone is painful and it's hard. And Paul is saying no that's exactly what you're supposed to do for one another. You may need someone to do that for you. You are supposed to be doing that in the Church of Jesus okay did I um then Paul says this he says after he says okay restore this person with a spirit of gentleness come alongside they're caught heal their bone set their bone help them do that that's messy work but then Paul says keep watch on yourself lest you too be tempted now we all face temptations we all do we've talked about that last week we can fall off the bridge on either side but what Paul is warning us here is to remember that and he's warning us not to become conceited around that person and and he what Paul is warning us is that we must remember all the time when we're dealing with one another is that we all are alike we're all sinners in need of grace. Every part of our life we need grace every part of of me loving you I need grace to do that. I need you to have grace toward me. And so what Paul is saying is watch yourself you're on the precipice of sinning also we're always there. We are always being tempted and Paul is saying no keep an eye on yourself keep watch on yourself because you too could be in that same position. Okay. Then in verse 2 again we're still talking about life together Paul tells us something else we should be doing in that life together and Paul says we should bear one another's burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ okay what is Paul talking about here is this the same thing what Paul is talking about here is not so much sin as it is weakness or brokenness. And Martin Luther says this he says this work requires strong shoulders and mighty bones. And yet my friends I think I think we're probably more prone to do this as women especially that we're more prone to do this that what what we're talking about here is one anothering it's loving one another. It's that we uh it's having a burden in our lives that we can't carry by ourselves. It's at times in our lives when maybe there's great sorrow in our life it might be poverty it might be abuse it might be divorce it might be cancer it might be depression it might be death it might be a rebellious child it could be any number of things but it's so heavy it becomes so heavy that we can't bear it alone. It's like our our backs are are bent over and and one commentator says that that in those situations we are supposed to be watching that with each other and in those situations we're supposed to bend down so low that we can get under that burden and help lift it so that person can stand up again. That's the picture. When you see someone broken that's what we're supposed to do we're not supposed to say oh my gosh I just don't have time for this you've got to have time to love your sister in Christ and that's what Paul is talking about. And one of the things that happens is that people often say when they don't want to get involved well you know Jesus says this he says come unto me all come unto me all you who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest and isn't that really where people are supposed to go when they have a a great burden that they're supposed to go to Jesus well there are two things about this there are are passages that say that we are supposed to lay our burdens before Jesus but that's this one isn't one of them. This one is the burden Jesus is talking about here the burden of our sin and guilt and what what is what Jesus is showing us is that he is the true burden bearer that he took our sin and guilt. It was a burden we could never bear we never could carry our own burden and he's the one that came along and took our burden and he carried it and it caused Jesus to lose the face of his father. It caused Jesus to have to suffer the wrath of God in our place. It caused him to take our sin upon himself and give us his righteousness it caused him to die it crushed him under the weight of what he did for us. And what we have to understand is we couldn't carry that burden if the true burden bearer had not come along we would have been crushed and there's nothing we could have done. And so what what that passage is saying to us is be like him that you you can't carry a salvation burden but you can come along and imitate Jesus Christ in that. And so we we have to separate that idea but it is true that Peter in um 1 Peter I think it is says this he says cast all your anxieties upon him because he cares for you and that is true. And that is beautiful and it's true and it's wonderful and where it's where we should always go with our burdens but it does not take away the need that we have to help carry one another's burdens and this I as I thought about this and I was thinking about this I it to me became so beautiful that the Lord Jesus through Paul would let us know what an amazing thing it is that we have one another. That we have someone who can embrace us who can cry with us who can walk alongside us who can whisper the love of Jesus into our lives and help us carry that burden it's it's just I I I guess I just started thinking about that. We need to take that seriously because it's a beautiful gift that we have for one another and it's imitating our Lord Jesus Christ. Okay running out of time so I need to the the next uh verses verse three four and five are really confusing let me read them and and then um we're raise your hand and you can stand up and explain it to us if you want to. Okay, uh verse three for if anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing he deser 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 uh neighbor for each one will have to bear his own load it's uh it's really I mean when I first read that I thought I have no idea what he's saying there. I have no idea. But it really begins to make sense as you as you uh study it. So Paul says for if anyone thinks himself to be something when he is nothing he deceives himself. Okay. Paul knows how our hearts work he knows that when we are coming alongside someone as we talked about earlier that what is going to happen is that we begin to feel better. It puffs us up when we're helping someone it just does. And Paul is saying don't do that don't deceive yourself because you are nothing in other words what Paul is saying it sounds it sounds really harsh at first but what Paul is saying is really a beautiful thing. He's saying you and I can be honest with each other. We can be honest with God we can be honest with ourselves because we are nothing without Jesus Christ. You are nothing I am nothing we can know that about one another we don't have a scale here we all are even on the same scale. And so one of the things that when we do that when we realize that we are nothing except in Jesus Christ we can be honest with one another and we don't have to pretend we're something that we're not that's a beautiful thing. That's a beautiful thing that we have without the gospel we never could have admitted that we could never admit that about ourselves because we would be doing this vainglory thing we would be trying to puff ourselves up. We don't need to do that in the gospel we don't need a false glory. We don't need to compare ourselves with others. We're free to admit who we are how much we need Jesus Christ. So we are free. We are free to love well but Paul does not stop there because he does go on and he says that indeed we should examine our lives. He says in verse let's see is it four he says but let each one test um test his own work and then his reason to boast will be in himself alone and not in his neighbor okay Paul is not saying here that the work that we do is something that gains us um um i it doesn't it doesn't gain us standing with Jesus. Jesus is the only thing that gives us standing but what he is saying is that our works matter they do matter because they show where our heart is they show what's going on in our hearts. So if we stand back and we look at our works and we begin to see that there are works of love going on in our hearts that our hearts are changing that I'm beginning to love you and I want to help you along I want to help you with your burden then we can rejoice because the spirit is beginning to work in our hearts we can be thankful for that. We can walk by the spirit and however if it if it if we stand back and examine our our works and discover that there is nothing going on that we aren't growing in the spirit then we need to begin praying about that. That's why we have to keep looking we have to keep keep thinking about well are we walking faithfully in the Holy Spirit when we stand before the Lord will we be able will it be wood and hay and stubble or will we have crowns that we can put at his feet and that's what Paul is talking about. He's talking about that yes we need to do this yes we need to examine our works not in comparison with other people but according to what what we were before not comparing ourselves to one another and then Paul says because we'll all have to carry our own burden and that is a um most commentators believe that he's talking about judgment there that when it comes to the judgment that we will have that moment when we will have to give an account not not salvation account but account as to how we use the gifts and and the gift of the Holy Spirit that was with us. So that's what Paul is talking about there. Okay we're nearly out of time so let me wrap up this last part as quickly as I can and here Paul changes the um the image from he's going from burden bearing now he's talking about harvest he's talking about planting and reaping and um what what Paul wants us to see is that we are supposed to do that with liberality that we're supposed to what we plant what we sow is is what we will reap. That's the kind of harvest we will have that's the way the harvest works the seed that we plant then in time we're going to reap what we planted. And so Paul wants us to know that and the first way he talks about this is very strange it seems it almost seems out of place but it makes sense as we go on. He's talking about generosity toward those who teach us God's word toward our pastors and what he's saying is that our pastors plant God's beautiful word in our hearts and what begins to happen is the Spirit uses that and it and it produces a harvest and what Paul is saying is then we are to to take that harvest and share it with the one who planted the seed so that he can continue doing that. And it's not just money it is money. I mean we are supposed to support our pastors but it's encouragement and it's thankfulness and it's praying for them. And so that's the idea that how important it is that we have God's word planted into our heart. Then Paul goes on and says he says do not be deceived God is not mocked we will reap what we sow we can't fool God. One of the things I I do think that we sometimes think is that it won't matter if I do that it really won't matter. I mean I I I just think I can do that. I um I I I'm gonna I'm gonna get this new dress and I'm gonna hide it in my closet. Then when my husband says is that new I'll say no it's no that was up in my closet. See I we think we can do those kinds of I've never done that of course but but I but um we we think that those things don't matter and what Paul is saying is that anytime we sow to the flesh we diminish ourselves. We do. And of course we all are going to sow to to the flesh in in our lives but every time we do it just it diminishes us and it diminishes those around us and it keeps that spirit that f uh fruit from just really growing and growing and growing so take that to heart that that if we sow to the flesh it really is diminishing us. But Paul is going on beyond that and he's saying if that's all you do if you are always sowing to the flesh then here's here's what I want you to know you're going to reap corruption because that's the only seed you've sown and that's all you can reap. You can only reap corruption if you've only sown the seed of the flesh you can only reap corruption and it just means the Holy Spirit isn't in us. So it would be a life of self-love self-pleasing self-improvement self-serving and that's that's what you're going to get you're going to end up with only self. But thanks be to God there is another seed to plant and one that sows to the spirit will from the spirit reap eternal life and notice that that it means again we're back to that keeping step keeping your mind on the spirit following the spirit walking him walking by the spirit it means burden bearing like we've talked about and it has to do with the way we use our time with the way we use our money it has to do with our prayer life with our Bible study it matters all of those things matter and it means that we're sowing our life to the Spirit and and the promise is we will reap eternal life okay as we bring this to a close Paul is bringing this idea to a close and and he says it as a pastor he says and let us not grow weary of doing good for in due time we will reap if we do not give up and and um Paul just knows that living by the Spirit is hard. Because our our flesh is so alive and it's so natural to us and and it just calls out to us and following the Spirit is hard. And um we have to fight our flesh at every moment. We have our own hearts to examine we have to help carry burdens for others. We have broken lives to help restore and this is the kind of life that we have to expere expect weariness and Paul knows that and he's telling us don't grow weary. Don't give up because Paul is holding a promise before us because in due time you will reap um Paul says this um not in Galatians I honestly I forget where it is but anyway um he says this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory. It's in Romans, isn't it? Corinthians, I knew that yeah but he says this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory. And um we just have to keep our eyes on the promises because we will grow weary if we don't know what we're what we are keeping our eyes on. If we aren't keeping our eyes on that um final promise. So during the time that we have here um just think that you get to breathe beauty and truth into the life of others. That you get to come alongside and help them when they're under a burden that you get to share the gospel with people and you get to um just bring the love of Christ to the world. So don't grow weary in doing good because in due time you will reap. One day my friends we will all sit at that banquet table with the Lord Jesus Christ and we will see that that all of the works that we did that that they have made us into this beautiful person that can sit at the table with the Lord Jesus Christ. And um I th I wrote down this thing that you all know probably but I just think it's a beautiful idea of the um of what it's going to be like. Uh it's from C. S. Lewis The Last Battle and he says and as he spoke he no longer looked to them like a lion but the things that began to happen after that were so great and so beautiful that I cannot write them. And for us this is the end of all the stories and we can most truly say that they all lived happily ever after. But for them it was only the beginning of the real story. All of their life in this world and their adventures in Narnia had only been the cover and the title page. Now at last they were beginning chapter one of the great story which no one on earth has read, which goes on forever and ever, and which every chapter is better than the one before. So don't grow weary in doing good for in due season we'll reap what we have sown. Let's pray.