Till Death Do Us Part

The Covenant of Our Love; Galatians 6:1-10

Background:

• Galatians 5:22-23, “The Fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.”

• Galatians 5:25, “If we live by the Spirit, let us walk by the Spirit.”

• John 13:34-35, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”

 

The Covenant of Our Love, Galatians 6:1-10

1. Love is active

• Restoring the wayward believer to the covenant community, Galatians 6:1

• Bearing the burdens of struggling believers within the covenant community, Galatians 6:2

1. Love is humble, Galatians 6:3-4

• Having loved others, we must guard our deceptive hearts from thinking were more than we are

1. Love takes personal responsibility, Galatians 6:5
2. Love takes care of ministers of the gospel, Galatians 6:6
3. Love avoids sin and seeks life, Galatians 6:7-8

• Biblical principle: we reap what we sow

1. Love produces a reward for those who stick with it, Galatians 6:9
2. Love takes advantage of the opportunity to do good, Galatians 6:10

• To all people

• Especially to believers

 

 

 

Till Death Do Us Part

The Covenant of Our Love; Galatians 6:1-10

Scripture Reading and Prayer by Greg Anderson, Galatians 6:1-10 (slides)

1. Out common life together as a community of faith

• Our Saving Faith: The glory of God through the exaltation of His Son Jesus Christ

• Our Calling: The glory of God through the proclamation of His Son Jesus Christ

• Our Love: The glory of God through the imitation of His Son Jesus Christ

• We are to obey Christ by imitating the life of Christ

• We are to be imitators of Jesus Christ with our lives – the way Christ ministered to the downtrodden, the way He rescued the sinner, the way He gave freely of His life

• Matthew 5:16 “Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.”

• Luke 6:35-36 ³⁵“But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High; for He Himself is kind to ungrateful and evil men. ³⁶“Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.

• All of this for the Glory of God, at store picking up shampoo “you are doing something good for humanity.” “I don’t know about that, but I want people to know about the goodness of Jesus Christ whom I serve.”

1. Background

• Galatians 5:22-23, “The Fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.”

• Galatians 5:25, “If we live by the Spirit, let us walk by the Spirit.”

1. The Covenant of Our Love, Galatians 6:1-10

• Gal. 6 as an expression of Christian love even though the word is not explicitly used

• First, set in context of the fruit of the Spirit, “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, …”

• Second, verse 6:2, the command of Christ

• John 13:34-35, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”

• Matthew 22:36-40 ³⁶“Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” ³⁷And He said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ ³⁸“This is the great and foremost commandment. ³⁹“The second is like it, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ ⁴⁰“On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets.”

• Third, the active nature of love in contrast to the emotional emphasis in the world

• Hebrews 10:24-24 “let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, ²⁵not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near.”

• To love and good deeds – the two go hand in hand, you cannot love without doing good deeds and you cannot really be doing good deeds unless it is motivated by love

• In Galatians 6, these are practical, active expression of Christian love, not merely feelings or sympathy or empathy, but action

• If I came to your door this morning and told you that your house is on fire, I hope at this point you would immediately get out as fast as possible

• The call this morning is to love, this is not a love that simply meditates on lovely things but that gets moving, active, takes initiative, services, ministers and here is how

• Gal. 6:1-10 is filled with practical Christian living as a fulfillment of life in the Spirit

• 1. Love is active

• Two ways this is expressed in the first two verses of this chapter

• First, by restoring the wayward believer to the covenant community, Galatians 6:1

• Read Galatians 6:1 (Slide 2)

• Matthew 18:15-20, on track to walk with the Lord, restore so that he is walking with Christ in order to maximize the brother or sister’s joy

• “You who are spiritual, do this in gentleness” another fruit of the Spirit - gentleness

• Gentle, gracious, forgiving, kind, patient, in other words, love for the brother

• Second, Bearing the burdens of struggling believers within covenant comm.., Gal. 6:2

• Read Galatians 6:2 (Slide 3)

• Burdens – an excessive, heavy load, unbearable

• “Love one another even as I have loved you.” This is what Christ has done in dying for our sins, He bore our sin when we could not

• So heavy burdens, the burden of sin, the loss of a loved one, the loss of a job, the loss of a family relationship

• How do we accomplish this? Prayer, Time - time with the individual or by writing or calling them, care by providing basic necessities of food, clothing,

• 1. Love is humble, Galatians 6:3-4

• Having loved others, we guard our hearts from thinking were more than we are

• Read Galatians 6:3-4 (Slide 4)

• 1. Love takes personal responsibility, Galatians 6:5

• Read Galatians 6:5 (Slide 5)

• It is unloving to fail to take responsibility for your own actions, to be a burden on the church because of your failure to take responsibility for yourself

• Excessive whining, excessive jealousy, a spirit of complaint, arrogance, disregard for the church’s mission, disregard for serving when others are working hard

• 1. Love takes care of ministers of the gospel, Galatians 6:6

• Read Galatians 6:6 (Slide 6)

• It is unloving to fail to care for those who teach and preach

• This is the reason behind the pastors’ conference

• Vision for long term ministry in Mexico – we have hosted 4 conferences in three different locations in Mexico impacting about 50 pastors (50 churches)

• Picture of Miguel, the church planter in Nuevo Lerado (Picture – Slide 7)

• 1. Love avoids sin and seeks life, Galatians 6:7-8

• Read Galatians 6:7-8 (Slide 8)

• Biblical principle: we reap what we sow

• My job is to teach in such a way as to maximize your joy

• We maximize our joy when we live out the covenant of our love

• 1. Love produces a reward for those who stick with it, Galatians 6:9

• Read Galatians 6:9 (Slide 9)

• Same Kind of Different as Me – Denver said to Ron about fishing

• Don’t grow weary – avoid the short term attempts to assuage guilt about the hurting by doing one act and then moving on with our lives

• Video of orphanage (Video)

• Story of calling Eldon on Thursday

• 1. Love takes advantage of the opportunity to do good, Galatians 6:10

• Read Galatians 6:10 (Slide 10)

• While there is time, while we have the opportunity – do good

• To all people, especially to believers

1.   Conclusion: How this truth unites our church, how does this Gospel faith unite?

• Love is active – an active fulfilling of the Law of Christ to love one another

• We cannot say we are loving and fulfilling the command of Christ unless our lives are marked by clear, external good deeds that bring glory to God

 

 

Galatians 6:1-10

¹Brethren, even if anyone is caught in any trespass, you who are spiritual, restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness; each one looking to yourself, so that you too will not be tempted. ²Bear one another’s burdens, and thereby fulfill the law of Christ. ³For if anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself. ⁴But each one must examine his own work, and then he will have reason for boasting in regard to himself alone, and not in regard to another. ⁵For each one will bear his own load.

⁶The one who is taught the word is to share all good things with the one who teaches him.⁷Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will 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. ⁹Let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we will reap if we do not grow weary. ¹⁰So then, while we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, and especially to those who are of the household of the faith.