Gospel Freedom – Part 9 “You reap what you sow…” Galatians 6:1-18 September 3rd, 2017
I. LOOKING at the WHOLE… (Galatians 1-6)
A. Living by LAW or by the SPIRIT? (1:6-7; 3:23-25)
B. By what we DO or what God has DONE? (3:1-3)
C. So WHY this NOW? (6:7-8)
This is our last week looking at the letter to the Galatians. Paul has had a consistent theme throughout the letter – since you received Christ by grace through what He did for you, you need to continue to live from the same place. Don’t get sucked into basing our life on what you do for God. So then why does He focus on what we do in this last section? Maybe he doesn’t…
1. If you had to sum up what is going on in the letter to the Galatians in just 2-3 sentences what would you say?
2. If you had to sum up why what is going on in the letter to the Galatians is important to your life today in just 2-3 sentences what would you say?
3. “You reap what you sow.” What has that actually meant to you thought your life? Has that changed at all now?
II. What it MEANS to SOW into… (6:7-8)
A. …the flesh – EGO focused LAW keeping. (v.8; 5:19-21)
B. …the Spirit – GRACE inspired GOOD. (v.9-10; 5:22-23; Eph. 2:8-10)
C. PATIENCE with the SPIRIT. (v.9-10)
While I’m no Greek Scholar, I have to say that the NIV did a poor job translating 6:7-8. Literally it says that “those who sow into the flesh will out of the flesh reap corruption and those who sow into the Spirit will out of the Spirit reap eternal life.” So what exactly does it mean to “sow into the flesh” and and to “sow into the Spirit”?
4. What is the “ego”? Does that relate to what Jesus taught about death to self? If so how?
5. Does the idea that sowing into the flesh means to build up your ego by “keeping” the law make sense to you?
6. How can we know if we are living to feed the ego or in surrender to the Spirit? What are the signs of each?
III. PAUL’S personal SUMMARY. (6:11-18)
A. The FLESH wants to PROVE itself. (v.12-13)
B. The SPIRIT trusts in what JESUS did… (v.14-15)
C. …and what it DOES to ME. (v.14-16; v.11,17)
Paul ends the letter with a personal handwritten summary. He almost laughs at how big he has to write to see the letters. Just another tangible example that our flesh (our ability to perform well) will never get the job done. That would be a problem if it wasn’t for the cross.
7. Is it wrong to want to make “a good impression outwardly”?
8. What is so ironic about 6:13? How do you see that happening in the church (or in the world) even today?
IV. A DIFFERENT kind of “RULE” (6:3,16; Rom. 8:1-5)
A. Let the FLESH DIE. (2:19-20; 6:14; 2 Cor. 5:17)
B. Boast in His CROSS, not your ABILITY. (6:14; I Cor. 2:1-5)
C. Let GRACE inspire GOOD. (6:8-10; Eph. 2:8-10)
Paul ends his letter by giving a blessing “…to all who follow this rule.” Wait a second, I thought this was about grace and mercy, not rules. Exactly…but this is a different kind of rule. One that gives life, that empowers real transformation. It’s the rule of the Spirit, and it’s what we were made to follow.
9. What does it mean practically to “boast in the cross”? What does a life lived that way actually look like?
10.What does the law do to you? What does grace do to you? Which looks more like the new creation that you are in Christ?
11. How is “grace inspired good” different than “law inspired good”? How can you seek to do good that is inspired by grace?