WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:08.080 Well, good morning. It's planting season, if you haven't noticed. My wife has been straining 00:00:08.080 --> 00:00:14.480 ! I keep saying Mother's Day, Mother's Day, Mother's Day, but she's just eager, eager to get out and put 00:00:14.480 --> 00:00:20.080 things into our garden. Peas and lettuce early, tomatoes late, and who knows what else will come 00:00:20.080 --> 00:00:26.200 up this year. We've never had much success with green peppers, and the worms eat our squash. So, 00:00:26.200 --> 00:00:34.320 that's been our gardening plan. But however you, or may or may not, be engaged in gardening and 00:00:34.320 --> 00:00:42.820 planting, the principle is very clear. The things that we get to reap from our garden are directly 00:00:42.820 --> 00:00:49.520 related to the things that we sow. If we make a tomato plant, we don't expect to get peppers. 00:00:51.560 --> 00:00:57.939 God uses this agricultural imagery often in Scripture to depict spiritual realities. 00:00:58.740 --> 00:01:01.840 And this morning, as we continue in our series in the book of Galatians, 00:01:02.260 --> 00:01:11.859 chapter 6, we are going to look at the question that the passage poses to us this morning, which is, 00:01:11.859 --> 00:01:18.900 what are you and I sowing to as spiritual farmers in our lives? 00:01:20.739 --> 00:01:26.340 If you remember the book of Galatians, if you haven't been here, let me just try to summarize 00:01:26.340 --> 00:01:33.060 the whole book in 30 seconds. The gospel of justification by faith in Christ alone is the 00:01:33.060 --> 00:01:40.019 center of the Christian faith. That is, we are accepted by God not because of any good works that 00:01:40.019 --> 00:01:46.659 we might do, but because Christ has done the good work of dying on the cross for our sins, having lived 00:01:46.659 --> 00:01:54.179 an obedient life, and rising from the dead. Therefore, by faith, as we take hold of Christ, 00:01:54.899 --> 00:02:02.899 we are now brought in to being the true people of God, not keeping the Old Testament law, but now keeping 00:02:02.900 --> 00:02:11.060 a law of Christ, the law of Christ, which gives freedom to love, freedom to serve, and the transforming 00:02:11.060 --> 00:02:20.099 power of God's Spirit in us to produce in us increasingly Christ-likeness, so that we are more 00:02:20.099 --> 00:02:27.620 and more like Him, conformed to His image in increasing ways. This is what the first five chapters of 00:02:27.620 --> 00:02:34.180 Galatians is all about. And in chapter 6, in these first 10 verses, there's a move towards, 00:02:34.180 --> 00:02:39.780 therefore, what kind of community ought we to be? And Pastor Nick last week talked about a community 00:02:39.780 --> 00:02:47.140 that both confronts and comforts, that bears one another's burdens while also helping one another 00:02:47.140 --> 00:02:55.860 escape from the entanglement of sin. And today, we're going to look at spiritual farming as a community 00:02:55.860 --> 00:03:00.820 together. What do we sow? What do we reap? So, that's what we're going to look at this morning. 00:03:01.460 --> 00:03:10.340 We're in Galatians chapter 6, starting in verse 6. I think it's page 917 in your pew Bible-ish, 00:03:10.340 --> 00:03:18.580 somewhere around there. So, Galatians chapter 6, verses 6 through 10. Let's read it and pray together. 00:03:19.700 --> 00:03:20.740 Paul says this, 00:03:20.740 --> 00:03:28.500 One who is taught the Word must share all good things with the one who teaches. Do not be deceived, 00:03:28.500 --> 00:03:37.540 God is not mocked. For whatever one sows, that will he also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh 00:03:37.540 --> 00:03:45.060 will, from the flesh, reap corruption. But the one who sows to the Spirit will, from the Spirit, 00:03:45.060 --> 00:03:52.259 reap eternal life. And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap if we 00:03:52.259 --> 00:04:00.740 do not give up. So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone and especially to those who 00:04:00.740 --> 00:04:07.379 are of the household of faith. Let's pray and ask for God's help as we look at His Word this morning. 00:04:07.780 --> 00:04:13.780 Lord, we pray for Your help this morning. We thank You for Your Word that it teaches us and instructs us 00:04:13.780 --> 00:04:22.579 what it looks like to be Your people, what it means to live as Christians who bear the name of Christ. 00:04:23.860 --> 00:04:31.699 Lord, I pray this morning that You would be our help, that You would make our hearts receptive to Your Word, 00:04:31.699 --> 00:04:39.379 make our minds alert to understand Your Word, make our wills submissive to Your Word. And I pray for Your 00:04:39.379 --> 00:04:46.500 help that I might speak as I ought, that we together would be blessed as we sit under Your Word. We pray 00:04:46.500 --> 00:04:48.659 this in Jesus' name. Amen. 00:04:54.420 --> 00:05:00.740 What will we sow in our lives? We're going to walk through this passage literally verse by verse. So I 00:05:00.740 --> 00:05:06.339 have five points for five verses. We're going to look at the foundation of good spiritual farming. 00:05:06.339 --> 00:05:10.259 We're going to look at the danger in spiritual farming. We're going to look at the principle 00:05:10.259 --> 00:05:14.819 of spiritual farming. We're going to look at the temptation of spiritual farming. And we're going 00:05:14.819 --> 00:05:20.099 to look at the application of spiritual farming. There we go. There's your outline. The first one, 00:05:20.099 --> 00:05:28.579 then, the foundation of good spiritual farming is in verse six, which is we need to sow the Word of God 00:05:28.579 --> 00:05:35.699 in our lives. Now, look, this is an uncomfortable passage for someone like me, or verse for someone 00:05:35.699 --> 00:05:40.979 like me to have to preach, because there are some people who, in the work of ministry, will preach 00:05:40.979 --> 00:05:47.060 constantly about how the people that they preach to have to give them more money, right? And it seems 00:05:47.060 --> 00:05:56.339 to me that often people who do that are driven by greed or self-aggrandizement. But I don't think 00:05:56.339 --> 00:06:03.379 that's what Paul has in view here. I think what Paul is saying is, as a community of believers, 00:06:03.379 --> 00:06:12.899 to be good spiritual farmers, you have to sow the Word of God, God's revelation, what He has given us 00:06:12.899 --> 00:06:20.579 so that we might know Him and learn from Him. And so, he encourages in the context of bearing one 00:06:20.579 --> 00:06:28.180 another's burdens and doing good, as we've seen. Hey, those who are teaching God's Word regularly 00:06:28.180 --> 00:06:35.860 among you, help them out. Support them. Think about how to support for their basic living needs. Think 00:06:35.860 --> 00:06:43.539 about both hospitality and generosity as principles of how you would live this out in your support of 00:06:43.540 --> 00:06:52.100 those who regularly teach the Word of God among you, right? And remember that the book of Galatians, 00:06:52.100 --> 00:06:58.420 this was so important because Paul had to write this book to correct where there was false teaching 00:06:58.420 --> 00:07:06.580 that was coming into the church and leading people astray from the true gospel, right? So, planting the 00:07:06.580 --> 00:07:13.140 seed of the Word of God is so important because when we do it poorly, or when we do it wrongly, 00:07:13.139 --> 00:07:22.180 or when we do it falsely, the fruit we bear is terrible. And so, God says, I want to encourage you. 00:07:22.819 --> 00:07:31.219 Support those who teach among you that they might teach the Word faithfully and truly. And this has been 00:07:31.219 --> 00:07:39.779 a pattern throughout the church age, and it is not merely for my salary or my benefit, but it is also for 00:07:39.779 --> 00:07:44.259 the good of the good of the church. I'm so glad that Joshua got to share this morning so that we could 00:07:44.259 --> 00:07:49.939 say, hey, there's more things to give than just me, right? There are lots of things to give, and that 00:07:49.939 --> 00:07:56.500 this kind of generosity, this giving is actually a spiritual discipline. It helps us to live a God-centered 00:07:56.500 --> 00:08:04.019 life. It helps us to recognize that all that we have, we are stewards of, not owners of, because God has 00:08:04.019 --> 00:08:12.019 given it to us so that we can think about how do we bless God and bless God's people and the work of 00:08:12.019 --> 00:08:20.019 the gospel around the world with all that we have. And so, we make giving a pillar of the Christian church, 00:08:20.019 --> 00:08:29.539 not for selfish reasons or for my comfort, for a life of luxury, for heaven's sake, but for the work of the 00:08:29.540 --> 00:08:41.460 gospel. As a personal note, I just want to say how thankful I am. You all have taken good care of me 00:08:41.460 --> 00:08:48.500 and of our staff over the years, and I just want to praise you as a congregation for the way that God 00:08:48.500 --> 00:08:54.820 has provided through you for us in so many ways. So, I just want to say thank you, and as Paul says, 00:08:54.820 --> 00:09:00.740 may God richly supply you with all things as you generously give. Thank you for that. 00:09:03.620 --> 00:09:09.379 The principle then, the foundation of good spiritual farming is the Word of God, and we need to treasure 00:09:09.379 --> 00:09:15.860 it. Now, I want to move on to the second point, and as I do so, I want to recognize it is almost like 00:09:15.860 --> 00:09:21.780 Paul is giving a few last like aphorisms or like principles, and you're kind of like, what's the flow 00:09:21.779 --> 00:09:26.659 of thought? I'm going to try to tie it together with this idea of spiritual farming. So, if the seed 00:09:26.659 --> 00:09:32.579 of spiritual farming is the Word of God, the next verse talks about the danger of spiritual farming, 00:09:32.579 --> 00:09:36.179 the danger that we might be deceived and somehow mock God. 00:09:38.740 --> 00:09:42.980 You think, well, how is that? How does that flow from the verse before? Well, here's the idea, 00:09:42.980 --> 00:09:51.060 right? The principle that's expressed in this passage, in this verse, in verse 6, is that you 00:09:51.060 --> 00:10:00.740 will reap what you will sow in your spiritual life, right? If you… whatever kind of seed you put forth, 00:10:01.779 --> 00:10:07.139 that's the plants you will grow, and that's the fruit that you will bear in your life. 00:10:07.139 --> 00:10:16.980 And this is a principle that God has laid out for how the world works, and we'll talk about later how 00:10:16.980 --> 00:10:24.500 it relates to the gospel, because that's important, but how this basic principle works all the time. 00:10:24.500 --> 00:10:34.019 Now, why would this be something that people would be deceived about into mocking God? Well, here's my 00:10:34.019 --> 00:10:42.659 thought. A characteristic of our sinful nature is that we love instant gratification. This is 00:10:42.659 --> 00:10:47.779 intensified in our modern world where we live with microwaves and online, and when our phone doesn't 00:10:47.779 --> 00:10:54.419 connect, how frustrated do we get, right? When the website gives us that circle, we'd think, oh, 00:10:54.419 --> 00:11:00.819 it's a terrible website. Why doesn't it respond immediately, right? We live in an immediate society, 00:11:00.820 --> 00:11:07.220 and we often want in our spiritual lives the same thing to happen. We want immediate fruit. 00:11:08.100 --> 00:11:12.100 And there are lots of people out there who will say, yeah, that's what you should get. There are 00:11:12.100 --> 00:11:17.220 televangelists who will say, just give to us, just follow us, and we'll give you healing, happiness, 00:11:17.620 --> 00:11:24.500 prosperity, the life you always wanted right now. Sometimes we want a quick fix 00:11:24.500 --> 00:11:31.860 where we think deliverance is going to happen today, and I'll never struggle with sin again. 00:11:32.419 --> 00:11:38.259 Or if I have these three steps, then I will suddenly overcome my sinful tendencies and never 00:11:38.259 --> 00:11:47.299 have to struggle with them again. Or sometimes in our selfishness, we think God has saved us. He 00:11:47.299 --> 00:11:54.099 doesn't really care about the little things, does he? So we can follow him mostly, but then I've got my 00:11:54.099 --> 00:11:59.699 little pet things on the side that I kind of cultivate and I grow on the side, and I just love 00:11:59.699 --> 00:12:09.939 those little indulgences, right? Is it really a big deal to God? And God says, you will reap what you sow. 00:12:09.940 --> 00:12:25.860 Do not be mocked. Do not be deceived. The shortcut is a lie. God's ways are often not instantaneous. 00:12:25.860 --> 00:12:31.940 They can be. Praise God, he sometimes does it. Jesus, when he was on earth, he instantaneously 00:12:31.940 --> 00:12:39.140 brought freedom, deliverance, healing. But we all know that that is one part of what God can do. 00:12:39.139 --> 00:12:47.939 And in fact, we might say that often God causes us to have to suffer for a while so that we might grow 00:12:48.580 --> 00:13:01.220 through those trials. So, we need to be aware of the danger in spiritual farming of expecting instantaneous 00:13:01.220 --> 00:13:12.740 results. Third then, the principle, where are we at? Verse 8, the principle of what field are you going 00:13:12.740 --> 00:13:22.340 to sow to? And from this, Paul pulls from the end of chapter 5 where he talked about two kinds of life, 00:13:22.340 --> 00:13:27.620 right? There's life in the flesh and life in the Spirit, the desires of the flesh and the desires of 00:13:27.620 --> 00:13:32.580 the Spirit. And he says, these are the two fields that we get to choose which ones we're going to sow in, 00:13:33.460 --> 00:13:39.220 right? And the flesh is not merely our physical body or our physical appetite, so it may include that, 00:13:39.220 --> 00:13:47.139 but it's actually our much deeper. It's our fundamental selfish, self-oriented, self-serving 00:13:47.139 --> 00:13:55.539 nature. It is our desire to be self-dependent rather than humbly dependent on God. And there are actions and 00:13:55.539 --> 00:14:02.179 attitudes and character traits that ultimately exclude God and put us in the center of our lives. 00:14:03.539 --> 00:14:13.939 You can go back and read verses 19 through 21 of chapter 5 to see what the fruit of the flesh is, 00:14:13.939 --> 00:14:18.339 what the result of living in the… and that's a representative list, not an exhaustive one, 00:14:18.339 --> 00:14:23.459 so you can probably imagine others. If you want the whole sermon, go back and listen to the sermons 00:14:23.460 --> 00:14:30.500 we preached on that a couple weeks ago. But the flesh then is contrasted with the Spirit, 00:14:30.500 --> 00:14:39.540 right? The Spirit that God has given to all believers upon faith in Christ. And the life in 00:14:39.540 --> 00:14:45.540 the Spirit is a life that is dependent on all that Christ has done for our salvation, and that 00:14:45.540 --> 00:14:51.780 increasingly reflects Christ in our character as we put God in the center of our lives and as we 00:14:51.779 --> 00:14:59.779 become more and more, we diminish so that He might increase in our lives and in our character and in 00:14:59.779 --> 00:15:08.980 our community. Friends, this is where we're sowing to the Spirit means sowing to the gospel of grace. 00:15:09.539 --> 00:15:15.779 This is so important. I want you to hear this. It's so easy to hear that this principle of we reap what we 00:15:15.779 --> 00:15:24.339 sow becomes the foundation of works-based relationship with God, right? It's so easy to think that. But 00:15:24.339 --> 00:15:32.419 God holds both of these things together because He says, no, you will reap what you sow. Sow to good things. 00:15:34.500 --> 00:15:40.419 But recognize that sowing to good things isn't doing good work so that God's going to say, oh, 00:15:40.419 --> 00:15:46.579 now you've sown to good things and you're reaping good things, then you're fine, right? But what he's 00:15:46.579 --> 00:15:58.099 saying is sow to the gospel of grace. Sow to knowing Christ more. Sow your whole life in pursuit of living 00:15:58.099 --> 00:16:05.379 in these things that God has given us. It's fascinating when you think of the New Testament and all the 00:16:05.379 --> 00:16:14.340 different words that Paul uses to take this metaphor of sowing and try to bring it into practical realities. 00:16:15.220 --> 00:16:22.899 Paul says in Colossians 3, seek these things. In Colossians 3, he says again, set your mind on these 00:16:22.899 --> 00:16:32.179 things. In Philippians 8, he says, think about these things. In Colossians 3, 9, he says, practice these 00:16:32.179 --> 00:16:41.459 things. In 2 Peter chapter 1, he says, make every effort. So, God wants us to engage all of ourselves, 00:16:41.939 --> 00:16:51.699 our thinking, our hearts, the things we love, our actions, what we do, our intentions, our will, what we 00:16:51.699 --> 00:17:01.299 choose, all of these things to pursue Christ and the gospel of grace that Paul has spent six chapters 00:17:02.179 --> 00:17:07.940 in the Bible. And we learn about these things through all the things that we know already. 00:17:07.940 --> 00:17:13.619 The means of grace. We come to church. We read our Bibles. We pray. We have fellowship with one another. 00:17:14.579 --> 00:17:21.379 We pursue the fruit of the Spirit. Look at that list. God, make me more like this. Help me 00:17:22.179 --> 00:17:30.339 in these ways. Pursue a knowledge of God that is both intellectual and heartfelt relationally. 00:17:30.339 --> 00:17:40.259 That we might live our lives to please God in all that we do. We are to be people who are obsessed 00:17:40.259 --> 00:17:48.419 with the grace of God in Jesus Christ. You know how you meet people and they're, I think of like Eagles 00:17:48.419 --> 00:17:54.879 fans, Philadelphia Eagles fans. They're like so rabid. You meet them and they're like wearing it. They're 00:17:54.879 --> 00:17:59.819 wearing the stuff. They're talking about the birds. And you know, you can, you know, greet someone by saying, 00:17:59.819 --> 00:18:07.740 go birds go, or whatever it is. And that's all they talk about all the time. Friends, Paul is presenting 00:18:07.740 --> 00:18:16.460 us a picture that we want to be as followers of Christ, those who have that kind of excitement and 00:18:16.460 --> 00:18:24.860 commitment and investment in the gospel of grace in Jesus Christ alone. 00:18:26.940 --> 00:18:33.740 Because when we are like that, we are sowing to those good things. And we need to recognize, friends, 00:18:33.740 --> 00:18:39.420 that our spiritual lives are not a slice of the pie of our lives. If you think about all you do, 00:18:39.420 --> 00:18:45.500 right, your spiritual life is not a slice of it. Like, you have your work, and you have your family, 00:18:45.500 --> 00:18:50.140 and you have your hobbies, and you have sleep, and you have your workout, whatever it is, right? 00:18:51.019 --> 00:18:57.420 Spiritual life isn't another slice of that. A spiritual life is like the pie tin. It holds the 00:18:57.420 --> 00:19:05.259 whole thing together and gives it shape. And in everything we do, in your relationships, in your 00:19:05.259 --> 00:19:10.859 work, in your hobbies, in your exercise, in your sleep, and yes, your church activities, 00:19:10.859 --> 00:19:21.979 in your life. So, to the gospel of grace, as you pursue Him. Think about how we use our technology, 00:19:23.259 --> 00:19:31.899 our money, our time, our affections, our love. Do we do these things? Do we invest these things 00:19:32.860 --> 00:19:40.380 to please God? Or in the end, do we invest them to please ourselves? And of course, friends, it's not 00:19:40.380 --> 00:19:48.620 only how that we invest them, but how we do it and why we do it. Because it's not just that we should 00:19:48.620 --> 00:19:55.660 give, but God loves a cheerful giver. What is our character as we do the things that we do? So, we want 00:19:55.660 --> 00:20:02.540 to stand for truth, but we stand for truth with kindness and graciousness and steadfastness, right? 00:20:02.540 --> 00:20:08.620 We want to love others with persistence, but with a willingness, as Nick talked about, to confront sin 00:20:08.620 --> 00:20:17.660 as well as to help one another, right? So, we need to recognize that the character of Christ 00:20:17.660 --> 00:20:26.460 Christ and the pursuit of Christ are how we sow to the Spirit of God in our lives. 00:20:28.220 --> 00:20:35.660 There's a famous little poem. I tried to look up who wrote it. It's disputed. Here we go. 00:20:36.460 --> 00:20:44.460 Sow a thought, reap an action. Sow an action, reap a habit. Sow a habit, reap a character. Sow a character, 00:20:44.460 --> 00:20:53.980 reap a destiny. The little decisions we make every day as we sow the little seeds, produce in our lives 00:20:53.980 --> 00:21:03.340 the greater things that shape and instruct who we are. And in the end, we do reap a destiny. 00:21:03.980 --> 00:21:11.740 And Paul's very clear about this in verse 6, isn't he? Right? If you sow to the flesh, if you sow 00:21:11.740 --> 00:21:20.460 to a self-centered world that excludes God, where do you end up? Corruption, which is an image of death. 00:21:20.460 --> 00:21:31.180 It's an image of spiritual separation from God, of darkness and of unhealth. But if you sow to the 00:21:31.180 --> 00:21:39.660 Spirit, if you take hold of the grace of God more and more, then you are sowing to an eternal life, 00:21:39.660 --> 00:21:48.779 a life with God. A life with God that begins now and increasingly as we experience God and know Him more. 00:21:50.140 --> 00:21:57.259 Though our outward bodies may be wasting away, our inward self is being renewed day by day 00:21:58.460 --> 00:22:01.900 in the glories of the eternal life. 00:22:09.660 --> 00:22:25.019 We love other people and we love other people and you know what? They don't change as much as we thought 00:22:25.019 --> 00:22:33.820 they would. We love our neighbor and they don't actually respond to the gospel. We pursue growth in 00:22:33.819 --> 00:22:40.139 spiritual life in a battle against sin and we don't experience freedom and we just get to a point where 00:22:40.139 --> 00:22:45.500 we just think, what is the point? I am tired of this. I give up. 00:22:49.019 --> 00:22:50.939 Paul says in verse 9, 00:22:52.139 --> 00:22:57.980 let us not grow weary. Why? Because in due season we will reap. 00:22:57.980 --> 00:23:05.900 We will reap. Right? Due season we will reap if we do not give up. Now that due season, 00:23:06.460 --> 00:23:11.900 I hate to tell you friends, that's probably eschaton. That's not going to be… We're going to get first 00:23:11.900 --> 00:23:17.180 fruits. We're going to get tastes of it. And we may see it and praise God that we do. 00:23:19.900 --> 00:23:25.259 But there are way too many perfectionists in this room to think, I don't want you to be disappointed that 00:23:25.259 --> 00:23:31.099 God isn't responding as quickly as you think it is to change the world and make it right by your actions. 00:23:31.740 --> 00:23:41.500 You should do all of that sowing and let God bear the fruit because you will reap in due time, 00:23:42.140 --> 00:23:47.819 eternal life now and forever. It is a good thing. 00:23:47.819 --> 00:23:57.579 Can you imagine a farmer? Goes out one day, plows the furrows, puts the seed down, goes to bed, 00:23:57.980 --> 00:24:03.500 wakes up the next morning, walks out and says, where's my corn? Right? 00:24:06.779 --> 00:24:09.419 I don't even know why I did it. I'm going to dig it up and try again. 00:24:10.460 --> 00:24:16.460 Sometimes I think we're like that, friends, in our spiritual lives. We grow weary of doing good. 00:24:16.460 --> 00:24:26.299 Good. And the antidote to that is for us to lift our eyes to see not the immediate, but to see with 00:24:26.299 --> 00:24:33.579 eternal perspective what we are doing. God is at work. You will reap what you sow. 00:24:35.019 --> 00:24:41.980 But it is under God's sovereign timing to when and how. And so we are called to trust Him. And, 00:24:41.980 --> 00:24:49.099 ooh, guess what? Walk by faith. This is what He's been talking about for six chapters. Walk by faith, 00:24:49.099 --> 00:24:54.460 just as in our justification, so also in our sanctification and in our investment of our lives. 00:24:54.460 --> 00:25:00.380 We walk by faith that God is at work and that what God has begun, He will bring it to an end, 00:25:00.380 --> 00:25:03.420 to a completion in our lives. 00:25:08.780 --> 00:25:16.060 So this is the danger is that we might lose heart. And then in verse 10, He summarizes it, 00:25:16.060 --> 00:25:23.420 the application. We are to do good to all, right? This is the summary. How do we sow to the Spirit? 00:25:23.420 --> 00:25:28.940 We do good things. We do good things in our pursuit of God. We do good things in our relationships with 00:25:28.940 --> 00:25:33.660 our family and with our church family. We're here to do good in our neighbors and in our world. 00:25:35.259 --> 00:25:43.180 This is what a spiritually filled community of God looks like. But He does have important modifiers. 00:25:43.180 --> 00:25:48.299 And I want to close with, as we look at this, right? First, He says, as we have opportunity. 00:25:48.860 --> 00:25:54.700 And then, and I think His primary purpose in saying that is to give some urgency. If you have a chance 00:25:54.700 --> 00:26:02.940 to do good today, do it today, right? The enemy is always, I'll do it tomorrow. How many things have 00:26:02.940 --> 00:26:07.660 you never gotten to because you're going to do it tomorrow, right? So He's saying, as you have chance 00:26:07.660 --> 00:26:15.340 to do good, do it today. Don't wait. Don't take time. But I also think this is a helpful qualification 00:26:15.340 --> 00:26:20.620 for some of us who have tender consciences. We live in a world of an information age where 00:26:20.620 --> 00:26:28.300 it is so easy to know all of the needs of the entire world. It would take 45 minutes on the internet 00:26:28.300 --> 00:26:34.700 to have a list, a document of the needs of the world that would be so completely overwhelming 00:26:34.700 --> 00:26:39.340 that you just want to curl up in a corner and die because you can't do anything about it. There's 00:26:39.340 --> 00:26:46.059 no way you could respond to all of those needs. How do you manage that? Well, Paul didn't live in an 00:26:46.059 --> 00:26:51.019 information age like that. So what did he do? He said, well, why don't you try your neighbor? 00:26:51.900 --> 00:26:57.500 Why don't you try your family? Why don't you try the people that you interact with on a daily basis? 00:26:57.500 --> 00:27:05.579 And it's not just that because Paul also brought to the churches in Galatia a need of the church in 00:27:05.579 --> 00:27:13.019 Jerusalem that was suffering. And so as you hear about needs, pray and ask, do I need to respond to 00:27:13.019 --> 00:27:19.819 this need with some of the ways that I can respond to them that's broader in the world, right? So it's 00:27:19.819 --> 00:27:27.099 good to be aware of those things, but friends recognize we're not saving people by doing good. We are doing 00:27:27.099 --> 00:27:35.659 good and letting God save people through His Word, right? And that gives us great freedom to engage 00:27:37.819 --> 00:27:46.139 without feeling guilty that we can't meet every need. Okay? So that's the first qualifier. And the 00:27:46.139 --> 00:27:53.819 second one may be an interesting one, and especially to the household of faith. Why does Paul say this? 00:27:53.819 --> 00:27:59.019 Again, those of us who have tender consciousness, we think, well, shouldn't we be blessing people 00:27:59.019 --> 00:28:06.700 outside the church first and not the people inside? So here's the thing. It's not an either and. It's a 00:28:06.700 --> 00:28:13.740 both and, right? But Paul does say especially, why? Because I think he has an idea that the church is like a 00:28:13.740 --> 00:28:20.700 family. And you see throughout Scripture there is a responsibility. Just like I have a responsibility to 00:28:20.700 --> 00:28:28.539 my nuclear family to as much as God enables me to provide for them, and to my extended family as much 00:28:28.539 --> 00:28:37.180 as I have a responsibility there before God. That's not just a nice cultural pattern. That's a biblical 00:28:37.180 --> 00:28:46.299 principle that I have that. But then also, I'm a part of the family of God. And Paul has underlined that, 00:28:46.299 --> 00:28:52.539 that the church is those who are the sons of Abraham, those who have received the Spirit of God, 00:28:52.539 --> 00:28:59.099 which makes us sons of God together, which means that we are all in God's family, and we are to love 00:28:59.099 --> 00:29:05.980 and bear one another's burdens. It's so sweet to think about this when Joshua got to share this morning, 00:29:05.980 --> 00:29:10.619 because we get to come alongside of him and think about, hey, can we be a part of his team for the next 00:29:10.619 --> 00:29:17.979 year? As Tyler prayed, we have a deacon's benevolence fund that you all give money to, 00:29:18.459 --> 00:29:26.539 and that we then use as a church to bless those of you who are in need among us. And we want to make 00:29:26.539 --> 00:29:31.500 sure you know about that. And if you have a question, or you know someone in need, or you have a need, 00:29:31.739 --> 00:29:38.299 we want to invite you, come talk to us. Come talk to the deacons. Contact the church office. We'll connect 00:29:38.299 --> 00:29:48.299 you with the right people. This is the kind of family care that God pictures when He says, 00:29:48.299 --> 00:29:53.980 so do good to everyone, and especially those in the household. We don't need to choose and say it's 00:29:53.980 --> 00:30:04.779 only one or the other. It's both. But maybe there's a little bit of a priority. So Paul is summing all of 00:30:04.779 --> 00:30:11.819 this up to say, this is good spiritual farming. When we sow the seed of the Word, when we are aware 00:30:11.819 --> 00:30:18.299 of the dangers, when we know that what we're sowing to is the gospel of grace in Jesus Christ, 00:30:18.299 --> 00:30:25.099 this is doing good, and it overflows in all sorts of good practical ways where we love and care 00:30:25.099 --> 00:30:34.219 for one another. And this is Paul's exhortation to us this morning. But I want to start to end our time 00:30:34.219 --> 00:30:46.699 by thinking just for a minute about what God sowed. Jesus spoke this in John 12, the week that He was 00:30:46.699 --> 00:30:53.419 going to be crucified. He said, the hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. By saying that, 00:30:53.420 --> 00:31:00.539 He was talking about His death. He said, truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls 00:31:00.539 --> 00:31:09.900 into the earth and dies, it remains alone. But if it dies, it bears much fruit. Friend, God sowed the 00:31:09.900 --> 00:31:18.460 seed of His very own Son for us. We in our sinful natures have only sown to the flesh and deserve 00:31:18.460 --> 00:31:25.660 destruction and condemnation. But Christ has come, and through His perfect life of righteousness, 00:31:25.660 --> 00:31:33.900 He sowed to eternal life, and yet He gave Himself for us. He reaped what we have sown 00:31:36.380 --> 00:31:42.380 so that we might reap what He has sown. This is the good news of the gospel, friends, 00:31:42.380 --> 00:31:53.420 that God did that Himself in love for us when we didn't deserve it. And this is why we live out this 00:31:53.420 --> 00:32:01.100 principle of sowing to the Spirit, sowing to the gospel of grace, because this is what God has done 00:32:01.099 --> 00:32:06.779 for us. And this is our segue into celebrating the Lord's Supper.