{"id":88,"date":"2010-07-11T09:00:31","date_gmt":"2010-07-11T16:00:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/?p=88"},"modified":"2017-03-29T10:09:45","modified_gmt":"2017-03-29T17:09:45","slug":"you-who-are-spiritual","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/2010\/07\/11\/you-who-are-spiritual\/","title":{"rendered":"You who are Spiritual…"},"content":{"rendered":"

Galatians 6:1-10; 14-16 | July 11,2010<\/strong><\/p>\n

Have you heard people say; I have.\u00a0 I’m not religious, but I am spiritual <\/em>. The reason I bring it up is because Paul writes here:\u00a0 You who are spiritual.<\/strong> Understand something.\u00a0 There’s a world of difference between those two statements.<\/p>\n

The person who says I’m not religious but spiritual<\/em> has chosen to go his or her own way.\u00a0 I can understand that with a Christian estranged from a church where trust was betrayed and ugly things occurred.\u00a0 I can understand that Christian keeping his distance for a time.\u00a0 But more often than not this denial of religious involvement is something else, something very different than what our Lord calls us to.\u00a0 Think about it.\u00a0 What would you think if someone said to you:\u00a0 yes we’re married, but we don’t live together<\/em>.<\/p>\n

But let’s put the negative aside.\u00a0 What is Paul describing when he says spiritual<\/em>.\u00a0 He is describing a person whom the Holy Spirit has brought to faith in Jesus Christ.\u00a0 That faith spills into our lives. \u00a0The life I live, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me.<\/em> It spills into the lives of others.\u00a0\u00a0 For \u00a0the Spirit has adopted us into God’s family making us brothers and sisters in Christ.\u00a0 That means we concern ourselves with our fellow believers.<\/p>\n

It also means we are \u00a0growing\u00a0 in God’s Word, and through that word \u00a0becoming more the person that Christ wants us to be.\u00a0\u00a0 That’s God’s design for his church, So don’t tell me: \u00a0I’m not religious but I’m spiritual<\/em>.\u00a0 That may be some kind of spiritual, but it sure isn’t\u00a0 Holy Spiritual. — Now we can talk \u00a0about this Word for today<\/p>\n

You who are Spiritual…<\/strong>
\nI. Come to the aid of your brother
\nII. Sow the goodness of the Holy Spirit
\nIII.\u00a0 Boast in the cross of your Savior<\/p>\n

Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual, should restore him gently.<\/span> Say someone has gotten into an ugly habit.\u00a0 Maybe its profanity or these countless, O my God’s<\/em> that treat God’s name like its nothing. \u00a0\u00a0Maybe they’ve gotten away from being in God’s house, hearing his Word.\u00a0 Maybe they’re an incessant gossip.\u00a0 They’ve gotten caught.\u00a0 Not caught by you or your pastor.\u00a0 No they’ve \u00a0gotten caught in a sin as if they stepped into a trap.<\/p>\n

The devil wants us to believe this about that. It’s none of my business. \u00a0It’s not!?\u00a0 Just suppose \u00a0you are sitting by the campfire. \u00a0You notice smoke coming from the bottom of your brother’s pants.\u00a0 Is that none of your business?.\u00a0 Of course not, you come to your brother’s aid before he gets badly burned.<\/strong><\/p>\n

It’s the same with your brother or sister in Christ. You who are spiritual <\/strong>should restore him… The Greek word for restore is a word used for setting a broken bone or mending a net or restoring friends.\u00a0 The believer caught in a sin needs to be restored.\u00a0\u00a0 And you’re the man or woman.\u00a0 In fact ,it is sometimes a very noble mission.\u00a0 Think of these words of James. \u00a0\u00a0Whoever turns a sinner\u00a0 from the error of his way will save him from death and cover over a multitude of sins.<\/span> (James 5:20) So go to him.\u00a0 Don’t hold your brother at arm’s length.\u00a0 Rather Carry each other’s burdens and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ<\/span>. \u00a0Restore him\u00a0 if you can .<\/p>\n

But do it gently<\/span>, Paul urges us.\u00a0\u00a0 We can be tempted to come down on someone caught in a sin.\u00a0 Like\u00a0 I would never be guilty of such a thing.\u00a0 But that comes from an over inflated view of ourselves.\u00a0 Paul pops that balloon. \u00a0If anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he misleads himself.<\/span> Each one should test his own actions<\/span> .\u00a0 What do we find?\u00a0 We’re not some sparkling saints.\u00a0 Anything \u00a0good in me, God has worked.\u00a0 NO, you and I are sinful beggars going to help another.\u00a0 So \u00a0you who are spiritual, come to the aid of your brother.<\/strong> But do it gently.<\/p>\n

Paul now uses a picture not\u00a0 all that familiar to us.\u00a0 The sower of seed.\u00a0 A farmer would go through his field broadcasting seed.\u00a0 What would grow?\u00a0 \u00a0A lot had to do with what seed he was sowing. \u00a0Were a lot of weeds mixed in.<\/p>\n

What are we sowing; not in our community garden.\u00a0 What kinds of words and actions are you sowing in your little corner of this world?\u00a0 You who are spiritual… Sow the goodness of the Holy Spirit.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The wonderful good news of Jesus Christ is that we are saved by grace through faith in what Christ has done for each of us.\u00a0 We are forgiven and dearly loved by God through faith.\u00a0 But faith that is real, faith that is alive will produce good things in our lives. There will be kindness.\u00a0 There will be love.\u00a0 There will be generosity and self control.\u00a0 You see, our Spirit given faith move us to sow good seed and when there is something\u00a0 else, something wrong,\u00a0 we will repent.<\/p>\n

Anything else is hypocrisy which is really no faith at all.\u00a0 And here Paul speaks in no uncertain term.s He warns everyone \u00a0that God is not just going to ignore people who let their sinful nature run their lives and in a sense thumb their noses at him.\u00a0 Do not be deceived:\u00a0 God cannot be mocked.\u00a0 A man reaps what he sows.\u00a0 The one who reaps to please his sinful nature from that nature will reap destruction<\/span>.<\/p>\n

You and I need that warning so that we don’t get careless and lose what Jesus earned for\u00a0 us.\u00a0 \u00a0We also need this encouragement.\u00a0 If we sow to please the Holy Spirit<\/em>, we will reap eternal life.\u00a0 Does that sound like we are saved by the good stuff we do?\u00a0 In this letter, Paul has made it very clear.\u00a0 We’re not.\u00a0 Yet the path of faith is a path of good things.\u00a0 It’s a path where we make it our goal to please God in whatever we do.\u00a0 Well that path of faith leads to the life that Jesus has earned for us.<\/p>\n

So don’t get weary of doing good.\u00a0\u00a0 Sometimes we feel that weariness.\u00a0 People call it compassion fatigue.\u00a0 It can happen when people are unappreciative.\u00a0\u00a0 When people take you for granted. \u00a0Sometimes \u00a0people take advantage of you. <\/strong>Why bother<\/em>, we might think?<\/p>\n

Keep sowing the goodness of the Spirit. <\/strong>God is not unaware.\u00a0 He notices the time you give someone, the help you offer.\u00a0 And he promises your goodness will not go unrewarded .\u00a0 \u00a0At the proper\u00a0 time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up<\/span>.<\/p>\n

But here’s the hard part.\u00a0 That goodness is not just for \u00a0the people you like, not just the people who are good to you. \u00a0\u00a0Jesus says, of what credit is that?\u00a0 Instead think of your Savior.\u00a0 \u00a0He prayed for those who crucified him.\u00a0\u00a0 Therefore Paul writes, As we have opportunity, let us do good to ALL<\/span>. Sow the goodness of the Spirit.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Even to the preacher.\u00a0 Even to the Bible teacher. 6<\/sup><\/span><\/strong> One who is taught the word must share all good things with the one who teaches. <\/span>I have no complaints. You support my family well.\u00a0 That goodness regularly comes my way.<\/p>\n

But there is another kind of goodness that comes my way.\u00a0 Your appreciation for the Word.\u00a0\u00a0 I enjoy that goodness being shared. \u00a0\u00a0Make sure you share it with your Bible teachers.\u00a0 A simple thank you goes a long way, or a pie or cake.\u00a0 For after all, They are bringing you wisdom from God, the One thing needed. You who are spiritual<\/strong> sow some goodness their way.<\/p>\n

So far this is about making progress in our Christian walk.\u00a0 It’s about serving God and the people around you.\u00a0\u00a0 It’s about being the salt of the earth and lights in this dark world.\u00a0\u00a0 But when you make that progress, when you become more of what God wants you to be, remember. Remember where the credit goes. It is God who redeemed my life from the pit.\u00a0 \u00a0It is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.<\/span><\/p>\n

Paul knew that well.\u00a0 He gave his all to Christ’s service.\u00a0 He gave his all to get people to know their Savior. He suffered all kinds of things to do it. Finally he suffered a martyr’s death for the gospel.<\/p>\n

I suppose Paul could have boasted about all he did for the Lord.\u00a0 But he did not.\u00a0 And neither should we.\u00a0 If we are going to hold something up, if we are going to boast about something:\u00a0 You who are spiritual boast in the cross of Christ<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

For there our Father did something remarkable.\u00a0 Isaiah says it so well:\u00a0 He was crushed for our iniquities, the punishment that brought us peace was upon him<\/span>. (Is 53:5) Then it was finished.\u00a0 The Son of God gave up his life that every sin was now paid for and forgiven.<\/p>\n

So now you are a new creation<\/span>. By your Spirit-given faith in your crucified Savior, you are something new and special.\u00a0 Think about it.\u00a0 We who once were destined for a real place called hell\u00a0 are now heaven bound.\u00a0 We who were shut out of God’s presence have been welcomed into his family through the washing with water through the Word, holy Baptism.\u00a0 We who once were spiritually dead in sin are now alive to God in Christ.<\/p>\n

So we have something to boast about don’t we?\u00a0\u00a0 But not in ourselves.\u00a0 You who are spiritual<\/strong> boast in Him who loved you and gave himself for you.\u00a0 Boast in his cross.\u00a0 Amen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Galatians 6:1-10; 14-16 | July 11,2010 Have you heard people say; I have.\u00a0 I’m not religious, but I am spiritual . The reason I bring it up is because Paul writes here:\u00a0 You who are spiritual. Understand something.\u00a0 There’s a world of difference between those two statements. The person who says I’m not religious but spiritual has chosen to go […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-88","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sermon"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=88"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":89,"href":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88\/revisions\/89"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=88"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=88"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=88"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}