TEXT: Galatians 6:1-10

SUBJECT: Exposition of Galatians #13: Brotherly Love in Action

In Chapter 5, Paul tells us by what rule believers in Christ are to conduct themselves. We are not required to keep the Law in whole or in part. Instead, We are required to fulfill the Law by practicing brotherly love. St. Augustine advised: "Love God and your neighbor and do as you please". He was on the something.

This "brotherly love" is always agreeable in the abstract. When it comes to the concrete, however, it becomes a bit less pleasant. Yet, apart from its practice, there is no brotherly love. In the verses before us, Paul displays brotherly love in action.

He begins with the worst case scenario: How to show brotherly love to a believer who has fallen into sin., vv.1-5: "Brethren, if a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness, considering yourself, lest you also be tempted. Bear one another burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. For if anyone thinks himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself. But let each one examine his own work, and then he will have rejoicing in himself alone, and not in another. For each one shall bear his own load".

Brothers may fall into sin. The word "overtaken" means "mugged". The Brother is mugged by "any trespass". Paul is intentionally vague; it may be a comparatively small one or a whopper of a sin. In either case, the Brother has been surprised by it; and hurt.

What are we to do for him? We are to "restore" him. The word means "to put back together" or "to heal". A medic splints broken legs; we're to splint fractured souls.

Who's to perform the procedure? Paul stipulates "You who are spiritual". Who does he have in mind? In context, he means: not the Legalists who are harsh in their treatment of sinners, but those who are "walking in the Spirit" and so marked by "love, longsuffering, kindness, gentleness, and self-control".

How are they to do it? "In a spirit of gentleness, considering yourselves, lest you also be tempted". The gentle spirit is tactful, patient and sweet. Solomon described it: "A soft answer turns away wrath, but harsh words stir up anger".

This gentleness is more than tone of voice or a management style. It is the product of humility. It springs from "considering yourself, lest you also be tempted". When you recall that you're no better than the sinning brother--that you've done the same thing he's now doing, and may very well do it again, you'll speak to him with respect and compassion. How often believers are like the Hebrew Rulers who chided the man born blind: "You were altogether born in sin; and will you teach us?"

Note carefully: "Considering yourselves" is not designed to keep us from correcting others who need it; it is meant to direct us in the needed corrections. It is, therefore, a "spirit of gentleness"--not a spirit of cowardice or of self-loathing.

In sum: Brotherly love seeks to restore sinning believers. But it doesn't stop there. It goes on to "bearing one another's burdens".

What are these burdens? They are the consequence of "any trespass". They stand for the messes the brother's sins have gotten him into. If the man's "trespass" is laziness, the likely "burden" will be debt. After you've "restored" the slothful man, what are you to do about the red ink that threatens to drown him?

Many believers would reply: "Let him suffer the consequences of his sin; it'll do him good". Paul, however, says: "Bear his burden". Help him out of the mess he's gotten himself into. There are limits to this "burden-bearing" of course; it's possible to be too supportive. But this is not the usual temptation; hard-heartedness is.

In helping others shoulder their burdens, we "fulfill the Law of Christ". We act as He would have it; we act as He did.

"For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ,

How that, though He was rich, yet for our sakes,

He became poor; that we, through His poverty

Might be made rich".

And so, we're to "restore" our sinning brothers and "bear" the burdens they've created for themselves. And more: We're to do so with a servant's attitude. According to v.3, we mustn't think of ourselves as too good to get our hands dirty with our sinning brother's mess. Believe me: helping others is a greasy, grimy, stinking job! Hence, "if anyone thinks of himself as something" (i.e.,something special), he won't do it. But he'll also be "deceived" or self-deluded. When he thinks of himself as "nothing", however, he'll roll up his sleeves and get to work helping others.

This "restoring" is a lot harder than preaching a sermon or conducting a Bible-study. It means getting down into the mud and helping others out of it. It means we'll have to get to know each other as we really are--without the Sunday morning makeup.

This can become a snare. For in helping others, we run the risk of becoming busybodies. In vv.4-5, Paul warns of that. "But let each one examine his own work, and then he will have rejoicing in himself alone, and not in another. For each one will bear his own load".

Brotherly love notices the man "overtaken in a fault". It does not, however, "examine" him or scrutinize him. It only uses the microscope on itself. When we do that--examine ourselves--then we rejoice--not in setting everyone else right--but in setting ourselves right. James Russell Lowell described the "Do-Gooders" of his age as

"Ready at a moment's notice to reform

Everyone but themselves."

Why should you "examine" yourself? Because the sinning brother is not the only person accountable to God. So are you. "Every man must bear his own burden".

Let me sum it up and add a theological observation:

In the second place, Paul shows how brotherly love operates in regard to teachers, v.6: "Let him who is taught the word share in all good things with him who teaches".

How do you love your pastor? You "share in all good things" with him. This means you pay him; you pray for him; you encourage him; you restore him when he's "overtaken in a fault"; you "cover a multitude of his sins"; and so on. Read I Corinthians 13 for more ideas.

Some teachers are worshiped; many are despised. But neither is right. Teachers (like other Christians) are to be loved dearly. And "love" by definition is giving. And so, if you love your teachers, you'll "share all good things with them".

I needn't labor this; no one is better treated than I.

Finally, we learn how brotherly love is to work toward everyone in general, vv.7-10: "Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that shall he also reap. For he who sows to the flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life. And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all, especially those who are of the household of faith".

To connect these verses to what precedes them isn't easy. It isn't easy until you read them in reverse. What Paul wants us to do--in short--is to "Do good to all, especially those who are of the household of faith". When Paul says, "Do good", he means to show your love for them.

The "good" is to be done to them without "weariness". Nothing is more exhausting than brotherly love. We must, therefore, resist the temptation to take time off from loving others. Why? Because loving others will produce a harvest of good. It will do others good; it will do you good.

Not loving others will also bring in a crop. But it'll be a harvest of poison ivy or stinkweed or hemlock! Make no mistake about it: "God is not mocked; whatever a man sows, that shall he also reap". Some "sow to the flesh" and reap accordingly: "corruption".

What is this "sowing to the flesh?" The "works of the flesh" are listed in 5:19-21. Usually, teachers latch on to "adultery, fornication, idolatry, sorcery, and drunkenness". This is true, of course. If one lives in these things, he'll suffer for them. But they don't quite fit the context, do they? The Legalists were guilty of the other set of sins: "hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, divisions, and envy". These attitudes are the product of Legalism--or living by Law.

We "sow to the flesh", therefore, when we live without brotherly love. The Legalist destroys himself and his church.

The man who lives in brotherly love, however, "sows to the Spirit" and--consequently--"reaps eternal life". For himself and for his brothers and sisters in Christ.

Therefore, because of the great blessings of brotherly love and the equal threat of legalism, we must give up the latter, and "not grow weary" in the former.

Jesus Christ has made His people free; we are free from the Mosaic Law and its curse. But we're not free to sin; we're free only to "serve one another in love". This we must do, not in the abstract, but in the everyday details of life.

How? Some men would provide a 12-step program for living in brotherly love. Paul isn't one of them. There is, in fact, no formula for achieving this goal. Something much simpler--and harder--is called for. To live in brotherly love requires nothing less than this: Putting others first. Not potential "others", but actual "others". Not the human race or the whole body of the Elect, but that obnoxious neighbor of yours or his annoying counterpart in the church.

This is what we must do--and nothing less--if we're to "fulfill the Law" which is encapsulated in these words:

"You shall love your neighbor as yourself".