Galatians 6:14 - The Ultimate Trump Card

"But may it not come to be to me to be boasting, if not in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through Whom to me [the] world has been crucified [and] I to [the] world."

-Many, many things about which we can and do boast.  How we look.  What we have acquired or learned.  What we have done.  Numbers - of converts, of attenders, account balances, winning streaks - you name it.  Paul here adds one more to the list - the Ultimate Trump Card.  The greatest thing he has going for him - wait for it - is the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ.  HIS Lord, to be sure.  In fact it is sooooo far and away superior to anything else which might otherwise be something about which he might boast, that those others are not even worth mentioning.  The most important thing about Paul - and about me and you and anyone else for that matter - is the sublime truth that the Father sent the Son to be our Savior (John 3.17, 4.42; 1John 2.2, 4.14).  May it not EVER come to be, he says, that I would boast in anything else.  Leading by example, this.

-And it is this very cross of Christ which has changed everything.  Paul says through Jesus and His death on the cross, he has similarly been crucified to the world and the world in turn has been crucified to him.  There are essentially dead to him.  Nothing else matters.  Nothing else comes close to holding sway in his life, in his thoughts, in his desires and aspirations, in the choices he makes.  That which concerns the world does not concern him anymore.  All that the world wants, and pursues, and values - he is dead and dying to all that.  Total game changer.  It is what he said back in Chapter 2 (Galatians 2.20) - it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me.  It’s not about walking in death, per se.  It’s about a new life... Next verse!

Galatians 6:13 - Pretense and Programs Ad Nauseam

"For not even the [ones] being circumcised themselves are keeping [the] law, but rather they are wanting you to be circumcised, in order that in your flesh they should boast."

-Hypocrites.  The church is full of them, yes,  But so is the world.  People who say one thing and do another.  Liars, in other words.  Duplicitous.  Two-faced.  That was the first response of our first parents after they transgressed, and it has been a default position for humanity ever since.  We cover up and gloss over and try our best to hide our screw ups, our shortfalls, our sins.  At their finest these are people who lay down the law or enforce rules which they don’t even keep themselves.  "They honor Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me" - says the Lord (Isaiah 29.13).  They give lip-service to a veneer of religiosity, but it goes no further than skin deep.  White-washed tombs - that’s how Jesus put it (Matthew 23.27).  These were the same ones who were troubling the Galatians, coming at them with circumcision and the law of Moses, insisting they must keep it while they themselves couldn’t even keep it.  And it is the pretense which is so nauseating to those outside the church (and to Jesus! cf Revelation 3.16).  They are sinners, but they know it, and there is no expectation to be something to the contrary.  It is the ones who are trying to be religious, who act one way in a religious service and then live differently the rest of the week, who talk the talk but don’t quite walk the walk - these are the ones who make the whole thing look like a sham, because their lives are a sham.

-Paul concludes therefore, that what the Judaizers were really after - was foreskins.  Notches on their belt, little rings of honor in their spiritual trophy case.  It was more of a numbers game, not about people at all.  They didn’t care, not really.  They were more interested in being able to boast about their program.  And is that not the case in too many churches even today?  Are we not too often more caught up in counting nickles and noses, boasting in baptisms and buildings, getting all enamored with the latest and greatest strategies and catchy vision statements?  When people show up, and they don’t feel like we truly care about them, when they feel like the program is more important than the people - isn’t that when we lose them, when we lose period?  The mission IS people.  It is ALL about people, people.  The mission is love, to care for people, to serve people, like Jesus, Who came to serve and to give His life a ransom for people (Matthew 20.28).  Yes, many people.  But people, first and foremost.  It's not about the numbers.  Put the numbers first, put the programs first, boast in these, and we are little better than those nauseating Judaizers.  Put people first, and they will know it, and then we really have something to boast about, something close to the heart of our Savior.

Galatians 6:12 - A Good Show?

"As many as are wanting to make a good showing in [the] flesh, these are compelling you to be circumcised, only in order that for the Cross of Christ they should not be persecuted."

-Paul is writing to these believers himself, showing them that he truly does care about them, and now adds that these Judaizers don’t really care about them at all.  He restates his point here, that the ones who are telling these Galatian believers that they needed to be circumcised were primarily motivated to avoid being persecuted themselves by zealous Jews.  Again, the prevailing assumption within Judaism at that time was that God only accepted good circumcised Jews who were descended from Abraham, and then He would accept any Gentile converts to Judaism IF and only if they also received circumcision and began to observe the entire mosaic law.  All 600+ commands of it.  

-The biggest challenge for the early church was for Jewish believers in Jesus as Messiah to embrace the truth that in fact circumcision did NOT make one more acceptable in God’s eyes, that Jesus was the ONLY way to the Father, and ALL who receive Him are given the right to become children of God, Jew and Gentile alike, regardless of the state of their foreskins or any other part of their anatomy, or their ancestry, for that matter.  These Judaizers would likely look better in the eyes of orthodox Jews and receive less persecution from them for following Jesus if they could convince these Gentiles to go on and receive circumcision after they received Jesus.  But herein their motive is exposed - they're just putting on a show.  They are pushing circumcision only in order to make life easier for themselves.  They don’t really care about what is best and right for the Galatians.  It was more about them, more of a sham, merely for show.  May we find the grace to truly care about what is best and right for our fellow believers...

Galatians 6:11 - THE MIGHTY PEN!

"See how great letters to you I wrote by my hand."

-There is power in presence, to be sure, but let us not underestimate the power of the pen.  Mightier than the sword, this.  The pen has historically been a tool for conveying ideas, particularly to communicate those to an audience not physically present at this time or in this place.  And ideas change the world.  They launch revolutions and bring down regimes.  With the advent of things like the printing press, the typewriter, and now multiplied forms of digital media, the pen is no doubt fading out of use in many circles.  Far easier to shoot off a quick email or a text.  Texting in fact is replacing speaking on the phone or face-to-face.  Instead of getting up and walking across the hall or into the next room to speak with a family member or co-worker, you can simply fire off a quick text.  We are so busy.  Or tired.  Or lazy.  Or some combination thereof.  Is there not still power in taking the time - the extra time - in this modern age of so much progress - to speak directly to someone - in their presence, or to pick up the phone, or even to pen a letter to a fellow believer, a friend or loved one?  Increasingly so, a hand-written letter can carry a weight of impact unmatched by any other form of non-face-to-face communication.

-To the point, the ideas in this letter have been preserved and passed down thru the ages and continue to revolutionize countless lives.  But in Paul’s immediate context, he perhaps was more interested in making sure that the Galatians knew for sure that he was the one who wrote this letter.  Not some stand-in, he was not dictating.  It was certainly no imposter.  No, this was Paul, the very same apostle who planted their church to begin with.  The fact that he was taking the time to write this letter himself conveyed the value he attached to this epistle and to these believers.  He mentions using large letters - it is possible that some portion of this letter is written in large letters.  It would be the same idea as using bold or underline or all caps - you are trying to EMPHASIZE A POINT.  And Paul’s point repeatedly throughout this letter WHICH HE WROTE HIMSELF is that the message of the Cross of Christ and life in His Spirit is incompatible with the law of circumcision.

Galatians 6:10 - Wrinkled and puny?

"So then while we have season, may we be working the good towards everyone, but especially towards the family of the faith."

-Because NOW is the season for doing good.  To everyone.  ALL people.  It is time, God’s appointed time, our God-given opportunity for spreading around the blessings of God.  He has blessed us, shown us His incomparable breathtaking goodness in so many ways and specifically in His Son.  And He fully expects us to be fully engaged in extending the knowledge and experience (and ultimately the celebration) of His goodness to all people everywhere.  We do good.  To others.  We are (to be) the people of good deeds.  We are people of the Good News, yes, but it is a both/and.  We both share the Good News, AND we do good deeds.  We should be caught up and living in them, steeped in them, swimming around and soaking in them, getting our little fingers all wrinkled and pruny from spending so much time in the true eternity pool of good deeds.

-So as God gives us opportunity, certainly while we have breath in our lungs we can praise Him and bless others with our words, with words of affirmation and encouragement and a good word about the Lord.  Certainly as we have strength in our bodies we can meet needs as we encounter them in the lives of our neighbors, a helping hand here, an act of kindness there.  It could simply be taking the time and going out of our way to talk with them, learn their name, take them a plate of cookies, listen to them and pray for (with) them.  And especially, Paul says, we can and should be doing this for our fellow believers.  It’s not rocket science.  It is by no means beyond any one of us - when we are operating in the Spirit.  This is the proof of our faith.  This is how the world will know that we are truly following Jesus, when we demonstrate His love for one another.  This is the true expression and overflow of God’s Spirit in and through our lives, when we are rising up and out of our fleshy propensity for me-first living, out of our native impulse to look out for number one.  When was the last time you did something good for a fellow believer?  Make it a point to do that today.  Ask the Lord, ask Him to give you the chance to do good to someone today, to show off His goodness to another.  And turn this into a habit, one where again you can totally be swimming around in these good deeds, so much so that it's almost as if your fingers are getting all wrinkled and pruny for the effort.  If necessary you might need to find a local assembly where you can actually begin to do good to believers on a regular basis.  This is where the rubber meets the road.

Galatians 6:9 - Heavenly Synchronicity

"But working [the] good, may we not be losing heart, for in one’s own season we will reap, not fainting."

-Sowing to the Spirit, generosity, gratitude, doing good.  Others-first, others-better.  Powerlessness and humility.  Our flesh - even if it has been crucified - does NOT want to live this way.  The world doesn’t live this way.  All around us and in us, the raging currents both within and without conspire to thwart any attempts at diving deep into life in the Spirit.  It can feel like we are wasting our time, we are not making a difference, we are not making any progress in our faith and in killing off our fleshy desires.  We may feel that others who are not sowing to the Spirit are still getting ahead in the world, getting away with shortcuts and blatant selfishness.  We can be tempted to want to give up and throw in the towel.  We can get tired of trying.  Why even bother?

-But don’t you do this, says Paul.  Don’t give up.  Do not give in to discouragement.  Do not grow weary of doing good, of doing what is right, of sowing to the Spirit, even when you don’t feel like you see any results.  Remember, if you sow, whatever seed you sow, you will reap accordingly, eventually (Galatians 6.7).  The law of sowing and reaping is incontrovertible - harvest is guaranteed!  There WILL be a season of reaping.  It may simply be (and usually is) that God’s timetable is different than ours.  Paul uses the special Greek word here for God’s timing - kairos.  It refers not to chronological clock time (that Greek word is chronos), but rather to a divinely-appointed season of opportunity.  A fortuitous time, a moment of good fortune, if you will, but not one which is subject to the whims of Lady Luck.  No, the sovereign Lord God almighty is at the back of all such moments of opportunity, superintending and appointing each and every moment and all the seasons of our lives.  He is in control, and working all things together for good - in His time (Romans 8.28).  And in His time, there is a time, a season to sow, a season to be patient, and there is a season, a time to reap, to gather in the crops (Ecclesiastes 3.1-2)!  God’s timing is unique, different for each and every person.  And it is perfect.  It's the Google calendar of Heaven, with thousands upon thousands of unique individual calendars all being maintained and integrated into a marvelous synchronicity by the Master Timekeeper Himself.  Trust Him, trust Him for power, for the strength to not lose heart, to keep going and doing what is good and right at all times, in every season, and trust Him for the increase, for the fruit and the harvest of real life in the Spirit which is guaranteed and which is life indeed!  (2Thessalonians 3.13; Ephesians 3.13, 2Corinthians 4.1, 4.16; Luke 18.1) 

Galatians 6:8 - Flesh-aholics Onymous

"Since the [one] sowing unto the flesh of himself out of the flesh he will reap corruption, but the [one] sowing unto the spirit out of the spirit will reap life eternal."

-Make no mistake - you WILL reap what you sow.  Sooner or later, you can expect a harvest of outcomes in your life based on where you planted seeds.  There are only two choices, just two fields in which to sow - that’s it.  You can sow to your flesh, or you can sow to the Spirit.  And there are only two outcomes.  If you are sowing to your flesh, you will most assuredly reap corruption.  If you are sowing to the Spirit, you will reap eternal life.  Those are the only two options.  And generally speaking, you will know them by their fruits - that’s what Jesus said (Matthew 7.20).

-One kind of life is a life of flesh, of self, of looking out for number one, of prioritizing the threefold-self - Me-Myself-and-I, with a capital MMI.  I want what I want, when I want it.  We are born this way, the instinctive cry of every toddler being, ‘mine!’  This is the life which is loathe to share, to give generously to spiritual leaders or really to anyone else, loathe to say no to the wants of the flesh, giving in and living luxuriously and indulgently in this life - King (or Queen) Me - I am destined for the one place where I can continue my reign on the throne of my life, and that is the one place in the universe where God is not present.  The outer darkness, that place of eternal corruption.  There may be two fields for sowing, but there is only one throne, and God is not mocked.  When I prioritize my flesh, when I diminish His dominion over me and banish His rule in my life, I myself will be ultimately banished.  We’re talking about a lifetime of earning this corruption, this soul-decay which gradually and increasingly sets in, eventually coating my soul with a deathly pallor of selfishness.  The flesh is mortal, dying - it is not life-giving but rather life-sapping.  You can see it in the lives of those who have lived a full life but a life full of self.  They are generally miserable creatures, apt to complain and grumble when things aren’t just the way they want, exuding negativity out of every pore of their soul.  God is not mocked.

-Of course, on the flip side, in the other field we find eternal life, life in the Spirit and by the Spirit.  And the Spirit gives life (2Corinthians 3.6, Johin 6.63, cf Romans 8.6, Job 33.4) - it is the Spirit, the very breath of God Who imparts life to begin with (cf Genesis 2.7, 7.22)!  We’re not talking about perfection (at least not in this life).  These are not perfect people.  But these are ones who are finding real life, life as it was always meant to be lived!  These are the souls who have said, life is not about me - it’s about the Lord.  It is not about what I want, but rather what He wants.  These are the ones who (are able to) say no to their flesh.  They are learning and choosing to live more in generosity than luxury, more in temperance than in indulgence.  Surely at our best we are all recovering flesh-aholics (Flesh-aholics Onymous - we're not keeping this to ourselves!), ones who have admitted our problem and our powerlessness, have turned to this One True Higher Power for strength and who thru Christ and by this Spirit are indeed learning to live a new life with a new code of behavior.  A new life which is the true path to life eternal!  Praise Him!

Galatians 6:7 - On Seeds and Chickens...

"You [all] do not be being deceived, God is not being mocked.  For whatever a man may be sowing, this also he will reap."

-You reap what you sow - an timeless proverb, this.  Today this ancient adage is widely accepted as wisdom passed down from our forebears, but that saying originated in the Bible, right here, in this very verse.  It’s about consequences.  Our actions - good or bad - invariably have consequences, and sooner or later we usually have to face up to those consequences.  It refers to the law of the harvest, one of the most fundamental laws of nature.  After their kind.  A grain of corn always will (given proper conditions) and will only bring forth a crop of corn.  A grain of wheat always will and will only produce a crop of wheat.  A grain of dandelion always will and will only produce a crop of weeds.  Whatever seed(s) you plant, you will get a crop of that.  If I sow bad seeds or only a few seeds - or if I plant my seeds in bad soil - i can expect to get a bad crop.  Similarly, if I sow good seeds, lots of seeds, sowing them in good soil, I can expect to get a fantastic crop.  A bountiful harvest.  We're talking about outcomes, what comes out based on what goes in.  This is the law of the harvest, and it extends beyond the natural realm of seeds and dirt and crops to the arena of life, to our deeds and attitudes and the outcome of our lives.  God has wired the law of the physical harvest, for sure, but He is far more vested in the outcomes of life, what comes out of our heart.

-But here is the corollary which turns this ancient proverb into timeless and sobering truth: God is not mocked.  And it deserves repeating.  God is not mocked.  Not ever.  The eternal, omnipresent God will not be mocked.  The word means to turn up your nose towards someone.  To look down on them, to disrespect them.  To not take them seriously, to take them for granted or take them out of the equation altogether.  But God is always in the equation (whether we like it or know it, or not).  He IS the equation!  HE is the One with Whom we have to do.  Whether to His face, or ‘behind His back’ or in the dark - God sees and knows all.  There is nothing which ever escapes His notice, not our tiniest indiscretion, not our briefest of thoughts.  Sometimes we act as tho we think He doesn’t know what we’re doing.  We think He doesn’t see.  Or maybe He doesn’t really care.  We think we got away with it, cuz there were no immediate negative consequences.  Or maybe we think we wasted our time, cuz there were no positive outcomes.  Maybe we tried to do it right and we still got in trouble, or the other guy, the one who cheated or did something wrong, he got away with it.  But nothing could be further from the truth.  We are deceived if we think that - we are deceiving ourselves.  God is not mocked.  He sees, and knows, all.  He cares, He cares deeply, about people, about our hearts, about what we do and say and think.  One day, our chickens will come home to roost.  This is a lesser know corollary of the harvest.  Chickens. Always. Come. Home.  And that is really what is often missing from our understanding of the equation.  One day.  It talks about timing.  God’s timing is impeccable.  It is not always immediate, it may not always play out on our timetable, but the Lord of the harvest works on a different schedule.  Next verse...

Galatians 6:6 - On leftovers and second-rate sharing...

"But let him be sharing, the [one] being catechized the word to the one catechizing in all things good."

-But!  Here Paul gives us an exception to the rule of thumb which he just delivered, that each person in the body of Christ should carry their own knapsack, that they should pull their own weight and provide for themselves and their family to the full extent of their ability.  But a significant exception, this, and as we will see, it is prone to being marred by fleshy attitudes.

-Catechism is very religious word, familiar to some, vague to many others.  It refers to a body of teachings (typically about Christianity) which have been collected and formalized in order to facilitate their instruction to others, to help ensure that they are properly passed on.  That noun does not appear anywhere in the Bible, however.  he verb, to catechize (used here and only by Paul and Luke - cf Luke 1.4, Acts 18.25, 1Corinthians 14.19), is the act of passing on such teachings.  It is instructing others in the fundamentals of their religion, in this case of the Christian faith.  And while it is true that all in Christ are well-enabled to teach and encourage one another with the Truth (Colossians 3.16), those who are called and gifted for and who work hard at this ministry of instructing the saints are deserving of special consideration (cf 1Timothy 5.17-18, Luke 10.7).  

-Now, historically temple priests in both Jewish and pagan culture made their living off of obligatory offerings which were intended to expiate sins and assuage the wrath of Jehovah or whatever pagan idol held sway in that region (cf 1Corinthians 9.13).  This form of ‘forced’ sharing thus worked for both the clergy and the laity.  But Christ paid for all of that, He took away our guilt and the wrath of the thrice-holy God against against our sins.  The requirements of the law have been fulfilled in Him, through faith in His work on the Cross.  There is no more guilt, no more condemnation, no more sins to pay off - this is the truth which sets us free!  It liberates the believer from ever having to present any offerings whatsoever.  No more trips to the local altar to leave food or an animal or money even.  We do see that special offerings were collected to assist the poor and needy in different places.  But what of the ministers, the ones who devote themselves full-time to passing on this truth, to insuring that the church is well instructed in the essentials of the faith?  If there are no regular offerings, how do they survive?  True, there are some - many in fact - who are bi-vocational, who earn their livelihood thru some other means of employment.  Paul did this on at least one occasion, in Corinth - he made and sold tents for a time (Acts 18.1-4, cf 1Corinthians 9.6).  His desire was not to be a burden to these peoples among whom he was doing pioneering evangelism, to be able to offer them the Good News at ‘no charge’ (1Corinthians 9.15-18).  However we also see that he preferred NOT to have to do the bi-vocational thing, and when the means of support were provided by other believers and assemblies, Paul devoted himself full-time to this ministry of the Word (Acts 18.5), of instructing others in the fundamentals of the Christian faith.  Surely there is a significant benefit, for both the teacher and the ones being taught, for said teacher to be able to focus their full time and attention on doing just that.  This is what Paul clearly preferred to do.  and so that is what we see in Paul, in both his ministry and in his teachings - the beginnings of a paid Christian clergy (cf 1Corinthians 9.3-14).  That is precisely what he is talking about here - the generous sharing - which was a hallmark of that early church (Acts 2.44-45, 4.32) - needed to be deliberately directed towards anyone who was engaged in the ministry of the Word.

-But we’re not talking about leftovers.  not talking about hand-me-downs and second-hand second-rate castoffs which nobody with a sense of decency would give to their own family.  Paul says to be sharing ‘all good things’.  Sometimes there is a mindset which leads us to believe that those who depend on the generosity of others can be expected to be happy just to receive any provision?  Even if it’s nasty or ratty, something we’re just inclined to get rid of or throw out.  Beggars can’t be choosers, right?  In truth, they often cannot - and to their credit you will seldom if ever hear them complain about it, particularly not those who are in full-time ministry and depend on the faithful generosity of others.  But in our flesh we do sometimes adopt this mindset towards those engaged in full-time Christian ministry.  We look down on them as somehow less deserving of good things, good things which they can only afford because we pay their salary with the money we actually earned as a result of our own education and ability and hard work.  And so we can be tempted to not fully open our hand to generously support those in full-time ministry because - let’s be honest - we are loathe to part with our money.  We would prefer to spend it on ourselves.  We give begrudgingly, or that which is blemished in some way (the Lord Himself has plenty to say about THAT - cf Malachi 1.6-8, 1.13, 3.8-10).  But Paul says, no.  Don’t let the flesh keep us from generously supporting those who faithfully serve and work hard in the ministry, in a way which honors them AND the Lord.  Our generosity should not ever be tinged with such arrogance or disrespect.  Next verse...

Galatians 6:5 - The iPack

"For each the own burden he will bear."

-This is not the same burden which was just mentioned three verses ago.  That one is the unbearable, high-pressure crushing load (baré) whose weight necessarily must be distributed among other believers.  Not only has God designed things such that we in the body of Christ need each other, but there are wondrous ways in which this body comes alongside one another and produces a supernatural synergy where the impact of our combined cooperation far exceeds what we could accomplish individually.  Nevertheless, each member, each part of the body must do his or her part (Ephesians 4.16).  Each person has a role to play, a mission to fulfill, a destiny to realize.

-Here Paul is referring to a smaller load (phortion), to the manageable marching pack carried by foot soldiers.  And in our case our Supreme Commander-in-Chief Himself is the One Who gives it to us, a relatively light burden, to be sure (Matthew 11.30).  And let's be sure to note that this is not optional.  "He WILL bear."  It’s not that he "might" bear it or "should" bear it, nor is it even a command TO bear it (i.e. BEAR it) - implicit in such an imperative is the option to disobey or disregard the command.  No such option here, however.  It is a future indicative, future fact.  In truth, there is no avoiding it.  As far as God is concerned, it is going to happen, you can take it to the bank.  He does indeed expect each and every one of His children to carry their assigned load, to pull their own weight to the full extent of their ability (cf 2Thessalonians 3.10).  Indeed, there are realistic expectations placed on the shoulders of every Christ-follower, and not one of these is beyond the capacity of any person to bear (1Corinthians 10.13), certainly not when the Lord is our very present Helper, our constant source of power and strength.  Jesus Christ, His Spirit alive and living in me, always on.  I can do ALL things thru Christ (Philippians 4.13), the One Who gives me HIS strength, strength for today, to carry whatever reasonable load He has for me this day.  It's the iPack, a unique, individually-customized load for each one of God's children.  I can, and I WILL do this - in Christ.  And so can you.  Both of us.

-And to be sure, it is a both-and.  We each do our part, AND we need each other.  We each run our own race, running to win to the best of our Christ-empowered ability, AND we spur and cheer and love and push one another on to glory.

Galatians 6:4 - To Boast, or Not To Boast? On Biblical Boasting...

"But the work of himself let each be proving by testing, and then into each only the boasting he will have and not unto the other."

-Paul just told us we are nothing.  But now he talks about a reason to boast about ourselves.  Elsewhere Scripture makes it abundantly clear that we should only boast in the Lord (Psalm 20.7, 34.2; Jeremiah 9.23-24; 1Corinthians 1.29-31; Galatians 6.14).  What gives?

-Boasting has both a direct object and an indirect object.  Not in a grammatical sense, but rather in the sense of who is the object of the boasting.  Usually when I boast or brag, I have some object or individual in mind.  I am calling out and proclaiming the excellencies of said object (or effort).  They are not only good, but they are better, and they are the best!  It might be my favorite team, my favorite place, my favorite person - it might be me.  Or perhaps something they (or I) did.  It could very well be (and should be) the Lord.  But then often in proclaiming these excellencies, we do so at the expense of another.  There is another individual or object which we are more or less indirectly painting in an unfavorable light in comparison to the direct object.  This other team or person, they are less excellent.  And since those who follow Christ would normally not engage in that kind of negativity or one-upmanship, what Paul is doing here is setting up the one exception to the general rule of thumb.  He says we can boast about ourselves ONLY in comparison to ourselves.  Look at your own work, he says.  Look at your own stuff - evaluate it, test it out, and if you have done well, then by all means feel good about that and talk about that.  Paul himself does the same thing (2Timothy 4.7, Acts 20.26, cf 2Corinthians 12.1, 12.5-6).  

-Ours is not to judge or otherwise look down upon the work, the failings or shortcomings or even just the differences of someone else, certainly not one who is a fellow member of our heavenly family (Romans 14.4), certainly not when we’re talking about degrees or simple differences of opinion or conviction.  I am not even any better, I am not less needy or vulnerable to temptation than the person next to me.  I need to keep my eyes on my own paper, nose to the grindstone, focus on what the Lord has asked me to do, and make it my goal not to feel good about myself in comparison to those around me or to look good in their eyes, but rather to look (do) good in the eyes of the One Who has called me and saved me and sent me to serve Him and to fulfill the law of Christ.  Part of that can (and will) involve looking around me to help my fellow pilgrims bear their heavy loads whenever necessary, but in this race I am not trying to beat anyone else.  Like Paul before me, winning involves finishing my own course and finishing well.  I am not looking around me, I am not even so much looking behind me, at where I’ve been - other than to gain perspective on how far the Lord has brought me and to learn from my past - but no, I am looking forward, and I am fixing my eyes on Jesus (Hebrews 12.1-2).  By all means, let's boast about Him.  And boast about the race we are running in Him and towards Him.  And how about we give an assist to the (would-be?) runner(s) next to us while we're at it?

Galatians 6:3 - The Little Engine Who Can't

"For if someone is thinking to being something being nothing, he is deceiving himself."

-Being nothing.  What did Jesus say?  Apart from Me, you can do... Wait for it... Nothing (John 15.5).  God’s power is perfected in our... powerLESS-ness (2Corinthians 12.9).  Paul here is not talking about identity.  There is no question that we are of infinite value in God’s economy.  In His eyes, we are precious, fearfully and wonderfully made, one of a kind, so valuable to Him that He paid the ultimate price to get us back, back into His family.  So, rest assured, we are all equally loved, not one person loved one ounce more than the pilgrim next to them.  No one more special or qualified or better than any other, and for that matter, we are all equally filthy, just as morally bankrupt apart from Christ as anyone else.  Wonderful impossibles, yes.  Diamonds in the rough, for sure.  But generally speaking, we all show up as would-be princes and princesses in beggars clothing.  Which is Paul’s point - it is not about our identity, it is about our ability.  Our best efforts are nothing more than filthy rags.

-Some suggest here that Paul does in fact have in mind a form of self-conceit, of me-better thinking, which could indeed prevent me from deigning to help the poor schmuck next to me, to crawl under his rock and help him with his heavy load.  And that is an attitude which of course is crippling to the body of Christ, no place for that whatsoever.  But Scripture, however, generally does not say that we ARE nothing.  It states that we can DO nothing.  I think the author here is speaking to that all-american quote-unquote rugged individualism, to a kind of pride or rather a self-sufficiency which reinforces that little-engine-who-could mindset in each of us, where I think I can, I think I can do it, i.e. without any assistance whatsoever, where we are loathe to ask for help and to let ourselves be vulnerable enough to where folks could be positioned to even know about our burdens, much less help us bear them.  Spiritually-speaking, we are in actuality the little-engine-who-can't, but we really don’t like to let other people see our weakness(es), we are uncomfortable with being needy.  But this is Paul’s point - we in the body of Christ DO need each other, and desperately so.  And we desperately need to be aware of our desperate need.  A cord of three strands is not easily torn apart, right (Ecclesiastes 4.12)?  God help us... to need each other.

Galatians 6:2 - Long-hauling big-rock-haulers...

"The burdens of one another you [all] be bearing and thus you [all] will be fulfilling the law of Christ."

-Fulfilling the law of Christ.  Surely it doesn’t get any better than this.  Surely all who follow Him would aspire to this.  Paul had just mentioned this fantastic possibility in Galatians 5.14, the law of neighborly brotherly love, the one by which all men come to know that we are true followers of Jesus Christ (John 13.33-34).  But here’s the point - there are no lone ranger burdens in the body of Christ.  We are family, and my brother’s burden may as well be mine.  Ours are shared burdens.  Any rock with space enough for one to be under is big enough for at least one (or two) more to crawl under.  Two are better than one, are they not?  The kind of apathetic or distancing ‘good luck with that’ has no place in the family of Christ.  We journey together, arm in arm, towards Aslan’s land.  Note that we’re not talking about tiny managable backpack-size burdens - we’re talking about the big ones.  The word is baros - meaning heavy, a heavy weight, heavy enough to create a burdensome level of pressure which one person cannot reasonably handle by themselves.  These are BIG rocks we're talking bout.  So it could be a trespass, one which is too heavy for my brother to get out from under and escape on their own.  But it could be some other life circumstance, some other form of brokenness which has reared its ugly head in the life.  They’re going under under the weight of it, and they need help.  

-Of course, it always helps if they would let us know when they are under that heavy load, but therein lies the importance of living into God’s design for the body - that we enter into and maintain vital connections within our local assembly, that we do journey and do life together - for the long haul - with a true spiritual family, that we move beyond this Sunday-go-to-meeting once a week mentality which is so pervasive in the modern western church.  Where we don’t need each other.  We don’t hardly even know each other.  We zip in and zip out like it’s Czechoslovakia or something, barely getting the whiff of another person’s life in our nostrils, much less a hint of their dirty junk under our spiritual fingernails.  We come in a bit late, sit and stand and sit and listen and pay our spiritual toll tax and we exit not much worse for wear, mostly unchanged, untouched and unloved (but unscathed), perhaps mildly entertained by the music and the lights and the hopeful message but otherwise unstimulated in the least by any other warm blooded fellow pilgrim towards the love and good deeds which a broken world around us so desperately needs (Hebrews 10.24).  Everyone has a story, a journey, something in their life which is more than they can (or should) carry.  The law and love of Christ compels us forward (or should) towards a family which desperately needs one another (or should).  This is ground zero - it all (so much of it anyways) starts right here.  We bring our burdens to the foot of the Cross, and there, standing right beside us, are brothers and sisters, a would-be heavenly family, God’s answers to our prayers, His divine provisions for our need.  God help us... to help one another...

Galatians 6:1 - On mending nets and bodies...

"Brothers, if also a man should be caught in any trespass, you [all] the spiritual [one]s be restoring such the [one] in a spirit of gentleness, looking out at each of you, not also you should be tempted."

-Invariably, for as long as we tarry in these earthly tents with a certain degree of crucified-but-not-quite-dead-yet flesh, we will sooner or later find ourself giving in to the desires of the flesh in some form or fashion.  Me-first, me-better is bound to rear its ugly head at some point.  We will mess up, we will be caught up by sin, and very well could be caught in that sin.  The question is whether my line crossing was more inadvertent and unintentional, or was it perhaps more deliberate and premeditated.  And having crossed the line, is my heart soft enough to admit the mistake?  Am I in a lowly-enough frame of mind where I am willing to turn around and forsake whatever it is I have gotten myself into, to return home to the Father from the place to which i have wandered?

-Truth is, my not-so-low-minded flesh does not like to admit to making a mistake, is rather loathe to being corrected, certainly not publicly, but not even in private.  And so Paul’s instruction here is that for anyone who may find themself in the role of having to confront a fellow Christ-follower who has wandered off the path, there are three things they must keep in mind.

-First, keep in mind that our goal is restoration.  This is the word used for mending a fishing net, to mend, restore, strengthen.  We’re not merely trying to correct a behavior, we are looking to bring the wayward son (or daughter) back into the family.  We want to mend the soul but also the body of Christ, a family whose effectiveness in blessing all the families of the earth is directly tied to the love and oneness which normally naturally just oozes out - barring injury.  As long as the body does not become fractured or incapacitated by the disqualification of one of its members.  Glory is in the offing, the ceiling is the roof for the body which remains vitally connected and faithful to the Lord and to one another.  And so we want to bring our wayward brother or sister back into the fold.  We want to bring them home.  And in doing so, we succeed in mending one of those oh-so-debilitating holes in our net.

-Second, our method is gentleness.  The Lord Himself is described as having that kind of strength under control which would not break a tender stalk or snuff out a candle’s tiny flame (Isaiah 42.3).  He tells us that He is gentle and humble, His yoke is easy (Matthew 11.28-30).  No massive wind of yelling here.  No strong arm tactics.  Here is where we find thirst-quenching soul-rest.  This is what we really need when we are bogged down and ensnared in the swampy muck of fleshy living.  Satisfying relief from the wearying, burdensome weight of sin and brokenness.  Our brothers and sisters don’t (usually) need an irate parental unit, they don’t need a bully, they need a sympathetic counselor, one who can put an arm around them and say, come on, let’s get out of here and go home.  They need grace.  Not apathy, not permissive license, not a line of grace long enough for them to hang themselves.  Rather they need gentle-and-firm grace which neither condemns nor beats them up but which comes alongside and says, it’s ok, nobody’s perfect - but you are meant for way better than this.

-Third, our mindset going in is one of cautious humility.  Nobody is perfect.  We are no better than this one whom we are trying to restore.  We are not more beloved or precious in our Savior’s eyes.  Nor are we any more immune to fleshy temptations and waywardness than the poor soul we are hoping to restore.  Not better, not at all immune.  There are no anti-flesh innoculations.  Truly, there but for the grace of God go I, and Paul here reminds us of that fact.  We are all vulnerable to temptation, and when we go to that prodigal brother or sister, it typically will involve us moving toward whatever they’ve gotten themselves into, and we need to be extra careful that we don’t step in it ourselves.  But make no mistake, engaging here is not an option.  We must engage with our wayward brothers and sisters - humbly, gently, mendingly...  Our brothers and sisters, our body, our net, depends on it.

Galatians 5:26 - Not family-friendly

"May we not be coming to be conceited, calling out one another, envying one another."

-A life lived out using "The Walker" - in the Spirit and by the Spirit - is the way to give full expression to those desires of the Spirit which will naturally surpress the selfish passions and desires of my otherwise-crucified flesh.  The flesh is all about the threefold-self, me, me, me, me-first, me-better.  Looking at and looking out for number one - that’s what my flesh does best.  So Paul gives us further warning about that here, three Spirit-quenchers, not family-friendly, fleshy attitudes which manifest in three ways:

-Conceit.  Vainglory.  Empty arrogance.  Ways in which I think of or attempt to portray myself as better than the person next to me, considering ways in which I might somehow be superior to them.  Smarter.  More capable.  More fruitful.  More educated.  Better looking.  When I entertain or express these thoughts, when I place myself above my brother or sister I create the kind of distance which douses the fire of the Spirit and shuts down the love of God from manifesting in our relationship.  Truth is, the manifold perfections of the thrice-holy God, the thorough depravity of man, and the sublime majesty cross of Christ completely level the playing field.  In God’s eyes, I am not only not even the smallest fraction better or more beloved than any other jar of clay, I am in fact called to follow the example of Christ and make myself LOWER, to lower myself both in my own eyes and in real life as I embrace the role of servant of all.  I wrap myself in the servant’s towel and get up from the table to serve, to wash feet, to do the dirty thankless job, to serve even those who perhaps in worldly terms should be serving me - just like Christ, Who did not come to be served but rather to serve.  He was among us as One Who serves, taking the form of a slave.  Others-first, others-better - this is to be our posture towards our fellow believers, our motto, our mantra, and it is possible only as we walk by the Spirit.

-Calling out one another.  This is one way in which the conceit manifests itself.  Verbal challenges to authority, a critical unloving spirit which manifests in negative words which tear down my brother, which attacks or undermines their character or their ideas or their service, a readiness to jump on them with words which disagree or demean or discourage - these are all fueled by a me-better mindset.  In place of words (and deeds!) of loving service and building up, we have the Body being beaten and battered and bruised by verbally its own members.  Unwholesome words.  Things should not be this way, this is not the way of the Spirit.

-And last we have envying.  I want what you have - your stuff, your position, your station, your gifts or abilities or looks.  The flesh always wants what it doesn’t have, but we must for sure not let it come between us and a brother or sister in a way which focuses on what I don’t have in comparison to them.  Me-first.  Still looking at and looking out for number one.  The comparison trap turns opportunities for service and blessing into woe-is-me pity parties.  It creates distance between believers and shuts down the love which would otherwise show the world that we are true followers of Jesus.  No, things must not be like this.  We are called to so much more.  We are called to love and to lay our lives down for one another, to encourage and affirm and build up one another.  Others-first.  Others-better.  For the sake of Him Who truly is First and Better.