Galatians 6:1-16
“God’s Sense of Humour”
A Baptist pastor was stranded on the side of the road trying his best to change a flat tire with a jack that did not fit the car correctly. A fellow motorist saw his distress and decided to stop and help out. The rescuer tried to position the jack, but try as he might to lift the car, it slipped-and the man swore. The pastor was appreciative of the other man’s efforts, but was offended by the swearing and told the man so.
The man apologized and tried again. The jack slipped again, and the man swore once more. The pastor suggested that if he was going to keep swearing it would be better perhaps that he not try and help. He also suggested that next time he felt like swearing, he should offer a prayer instead. He should say something like, “Please, dear God, help me lift this heavy load.”
The man thanked the pastor for the advice, and tried to lift the car for the third time. The jack slipped again, and he started to swear. But he caught himself this time and prayed, “Please dear God, help me lift this heavy load.” No sooner had he prayed those words then the entire car miraculously rose ten inches off the ground. The pastor looked at the car as it floated in the air-and he swore.
Let us begin with what might appear at first to be a simple question. What do you think are the signs of a truly spiritual individual? How do we know whether we or someone else is a person guided by spiritual matters, as opposed to matters of the flesh or earthly concerns? I recognize that all of us struggle with this tension, but just for a moment let’s focus on how we know someone is truly leaning more to the spiritual side of life’s equation?
Our first response to this question may be obvious. Perhaps we believe that a truly spiritual person is biblically literate. They know the ins and outs of every nuance of the bible, and are able to quote chapter and verse on almost every subject. Still others might look for more public displays of devotion in worship. Does a person really sing out during the hymns, shout a few amens, raise their hands, or weep publicly during worship?
Some of our sister denominations and churches, notably those of the Pentecostal or charismatic variety, think public demonstrations, like speaking in tongues; are critical to identifying people who are truly spiritual. Perhaps we think the truly spiritual are those who can evangelize, or are prayer warriors, or are missionaries, or who can get up each week and preach a sermon, or teach a Sunday school class. Have I pretty much covered your understanding of a spiritual person?
If this is your understanding of what it means to be spiritual, then perhaps that is why some people feel intimidated by those who can demonstrate such displays. Well, I will let you in on a bit of a secret; actually it’s really not a secret since it’s been in the bible all along. Paul, in all his writings, calls people to demonstrate their spirituality not with mystical experiences, but rather with more practical matters.
In Galatians 5:22-23 Paul describes a person controlled by the Holy Spirit, not as some mystical super Christian, but rather as someone who demonstrates: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Paul calls these things the “fruit of the spirit”. Notice he doesn’t say fruits plural. If we are guided by the Holy Spirit, all these characteristics will be evident, not just a select few.
True spirituality is demonstrated in how we deal with each other. True spirituality arises out of love demonstrated to our church community and beyond. Remember Paul’s words in 1 Corinthians 13. If we speak in any language, make a noise like a gong or noisy cymbal, have the gift of prophecy, know the future, have knowledge about everything, have the gift of faith so as to move mountains, if I gave away all my money, sacrificed my body: but have not…love. I am nothing.
For Paul the reality of the Holy Spirit working in our lives is demonstrated in concrete situations, not in emotional highs. To unpack this thought a bit, Paul focuses on the two areas we struggle to allow the Holy Spirit to control; perhaps more than any others. In Galatians 6:1-5 he talks about relationships, and in verse 6-10 he talks about money. I guarantee that if the Spirit isn’t working and in control of these two areas, it is doubtful it is working effectively anywhere else in your life.
In terms of relationships, Paul gives a hypothetical situation, but one we are all familiar with. Let’s say for moment that you know that one of your Christian brothers or sisters is trapped in sin. Perhaps they have made a choice that violates Christian principles and maybe you are the only one who knows of such a transgression. You recognize the danger they are in, but you simply don’t know what to do.
Let me remind you what Paul is suggesting here. When faced with something like this, what does a response of love suggest? The goal is pretty obvious; to restore or set right our beloved brother or sister. The Greek word for restore used here (katarizo) is a medical term meaning to reset a fractured bone. The loving thing is obviously to guide our fellow believer back to where they should be.
However, we are to do so gently, just as we would try and be gentle in resetting a broken limb. There is an inherit danger here though, that we could get dragged into the same trap as they are in, so keep alert. The spirit is at work in us when we bear, or share one another’s burdens. The word for burden here indicates something that is beyond the ability of one person to carry.
It is a burden that is so oppressive; it is in danger of crushing the person’s spirit. This could be a temptation, or it could be just a life circumstance that is overwhelming. This awareness of need, in the lives of our sisters and brothers, carries two traps of its own we need to avoid. The first is that of conceit; a conceit that comes from thinking that we are above helping someone. To believing we would never stoop to help.
Paul reminds us that in grand scheme of things, we are really a nobody ourselves, but God reached down and lifted us back up.
Such conceit comes from the very human activity of comparing ourselves to others. There are actually two forms of comparison that damage our spirituality and harm our work for Christ. The first form is what we might refer to as an inflated view of ourselves. A view created when we believe that we are doing better spiritually than other people, and I cannot come down to their level
The second comparison I am sad to say is the one I hear and see far more often. It is the opinion we place on ourselves that we are unable to do anything. The idea persists that I lack the skills, knowledge, or spirituality to help another person. In both cases, we create an error in our thinking by comparing ourselves to others. We tend to hold others up as the norm and when we compare ourselves to them, we think we can escape our responsibilities.
Paul reports that such thinking is not helpful or healthy, and certainly not evidence of the Holy Spirit working in us. Instead we are called upon to carry our own responsibilities and manage our own conduct, so as to not bring dishonour to Christ or harm the church’s mission.
The second area of real struggle for us, is the whole subject about how we deal with money. The truth is that nothing discloses our priorities faster than how we deal with money. Money occupies: our thoughts, our ambitions, our goals, and of course our priorities. The question arises powerfully in Paul’s words about where we invest our money, and of course other resources.
Do we truly value those who teach us the truth of God by adequately supporting them? Do we invest as much into our spiritual health as our physical or emotional health? Paul warns us about mocking God, and nothing mocks God more than how we deal with money. We somehow think that if we sow very little into spiritual matters that somehow God will overlook our stinginess and still grant a bountiful harvest.
It is incredible that we sow, or use our money, for self-gratification and still expect a spiritual harvest of some magnitude. You reap what you sow. If you sow carrots, you get carrots. If you sow or invest in spiritual matters you get a spiritual harvest. It is a basic truth, but still we persist in believing we are somehow exempt from this truth, that the very nature of God’s plan is somehow bent for us.
I find it fascinating that Paul seems to reach through the years, and hit our current circumstance on the head. He calls on us to not get discouraged or give up, because the harvest is assured, and will come at the appropriate time. How we forget that it takes time from sowing to harvest. We live in such an instant gratification society that even in spiritual matters we think we can place a few dollars on the plate and a revival will hit instantaneously.
It takes time and effort and resources to prepare a harvest. We cannot rush things. We are, I believe, to be in a constant state of “PATIENT EXPECTATION”. I mean patient, as in as we sow, we wait for things to grow.
I mean expectation, because we know the harvest will come at the appropriate time. Could it be that much of the spiritual malaise many of us are feeling is because we have given up? We haven’t seen the harvest we expected, so we have stopped sowing good seed or we are sowing so sparingly that the weeds or discouragement are rising to choke out whatever life there is.
Maybe we are discouraged because we have fallen into the trap of comparing ourselves to others, instead of getting on with our spiritual work. Maybe we are discouraged because we have been sowing seeds of the flesh all the while hoping against hope for a spiritual harvest. Maybe we are discouraged because we have failed to carry our own responsibility and instead have foisted it unfairly onto the shoulders of another.
Maybe we are discouraged because it has been eons since we have shared another’s burden and were able to see past our own. I mean who would want any part of a community that is discouraged or tired of doing good. What’s the point of that? How long has it been since we placed more emphasis on: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control?
All of this fruit is important but isn’t it odd how we consider them to be of secondary importance compared to more public displays of piety. Could it be that preaching, teaching, acquiring scripture knowledge and other spiritual activities are actually not as challenging as being loving, peaceful and self-controlled? Maybe we even delude ourselves into thinking we can ignore this fruit because we undertake these other things.
Perhaps we are like an auto mechanic who was working late one evening under a car and some brake fluid dripped into his mouth. “Wow! That stuff isn’t too bad tasting,” he thought. The next day he told his friend about tasting the brake fluid. “Not bad,” he said. “Think I’ll have a little more today.” His friend got concerned but didn’t say anything.
The next day he told his friend he had drank a cup full of the brake fluid. “Great stuff! Think I’ll have some more today.” And so he did. A few days later he was up to a bottle a day, and his friend was very worried. “You know that brake fluid is poisonous and really bad for you. You better stop drinking it.” “Hey no problem,” he said. “I can stop anytime.”
Can we stop right now thinking we can be spiritual, all the while sacrificing our relationships and sowing seeds sparingly? Can we stop pretending for a moment that we don’t have a problem with our spirituality when we cannot get along with our neighbours and family and our church struggles to make ends meet? Can we for a time focus our efforts on the fruit of the Spirit and set aside those activities we have so far deemed important.
Our first love is to be Christ, and our first duty is to honour him by loving our brothers and sisters and whenever we have opportunity doing good to them.