1. One Hand or the Other Galatians 6:1-10
“Am I now trying to win the approval of men, or of God? Or am I trying to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ.” – Galatians 1:10

2. What use will you put your hands to?

3. “Brothers and sisters, if someone is caught in a sin, you who live by the Spirit should restore that person gently. But watch yourselves, or you also may be tempted. Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ. If anyone thinks they are something when they are not, they deceive themselves. Each one should test their own actions. Then they can take pride in themselves alone, without comparing themselves to someone else, for each one should carry their own load.” 

4. “Nevertheless, the one who receives instruction in the word should share all good things with their instructor. Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.”
- Galatians 6:1-10

5. Review: Two weeks ago, we spoke about what it means to walk by the Spirit, as opposed to living according to the flesh. There is a need to keep in step with the Spirit in order to live a life that pleases God, rather than a life defined legalistically, and one of the concerns became “what happens when we stumble in our walk”?
If we were operating according to a legalistic approach, we might say something like “take your lumps, pick yourself up, get yourself together and try again”.
Is this what church should be like?

6. The Greek word translated as “caught” is a word that means “to overtake”, so the actual sense of the verse is “if someone is overtaken by sin”.
We are speaking about someone who is drowning in sin; someone who is entangled and ensnared.
A burden is something that is much great to be carried alone … it is a crushing weight.
The context is something like this “if someone is overtaken by a crushing burden of sin” … then what?

7. “Those who live by the Spirit should restore that person gently” and help to carry their burden, for “in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ”.
What law of Christ? Paul indicates that the entire law is summed up in one command, Galatians 5:14, “Love your neighbour as yourself”.
When we restore those who are drowning under sin, when we partner with those who are burdened, when we truly are showing that we love our neighbours as ourselves, in doing so, we fulfill the law of Christ. Could it possibly be that simple?

8. “My yoke is easy and my burden is light” (Matthew 11:30)
The Law creates a burden to which you must submit. The Law of Moses is a burden too great for any one person to bear, but must be borne alone. This becomes an isolated, individualistic pursuit.
A yoke, though, is more commonly used to join two animals together to share in pulling a load too great for either animal to bear alone.
Jesus’ yoke is easy and His burden light, because in submitting to His authority, He promises to help us carry the burden by his Spirit and by the collective strength of the Church, by those who “live by the Spirit”.

9. The problem with the law
The problem with the law? It precludes grace and creates a burden that cannot be shared.

10. In order to “restore” someone who is under the crushing burden of sin, we must first notice that someone is under the crushing burden of sin.
Do we notice it when one of our brothers and sisters in Christ is drowning under a burden of sin?
We do not notice these things because we are often too busy carrying own burdens alone – and reveling in the pride of “handling it”.
Rather than enjoy the easy yoke and light shared burden of Jesus, the Galatians were loading up weight to their individual burdens and glorying in their feats of strength.

11. We naturally like to compare things.
A load and a burden are two different things. A burden is too much for one person to carry, where a load is manageable by one person.
A lot of the time, we compare loads. We compare up and we compare down.
Notice vs. 4 … “without comparing themselves to someone else”.
When we compare loads, reveling in our ability to carry our load and burdens under our own Herculean effort, we “deceive ourselves … thinking ourselves something when we are not”.

12. All throughout the letter to the Galatians, Paul has paired the concept of ‘human effort or flesh’ with the word ‘law’ and the concept of ‘faith or belief’ with the word ‘spirit’
When we live according to the law and by our own effort, proudly handling our own loads and burdens and ignoring those around us, we mock God and will reap according to what we have sown - “destruction”.
If we’ve sown according to the Spirit, loving our neighbours as ourselves, allowing the Spirit and those “who live by the Spirit” to share in our burdens, then we will reap “eternal life”.

13. Paul closes this section with some pretty simple teaching … don’t give up doing good – loving your neighbours, carrying burdens, this type of stuff – because a harvest of eternal life will be reaped in good time.
The harvest of eternal life that is reaped by doing good is not referencing our own salvation, but the salvation of many whom our good works will point toward Jesus.
Our motivation for doing good to others is that good has been done to us in Christ when we were not worthy of that good. The gospel allows us to do good to all people, even the exhausting and unlikable ones.

14. So, how do we apply this to our current circumstance?
First, share your burdens.
We need to refuse to compare loads.
We have to refuse to be deceived into thinking that we’ll reap something other than what we’ve sown.
We must become those who do good to those within the church and to those outside of the church, because we have been shown incredible goodness by Christ Jesus.

15. When we become a church defined by grace and mercy, where we are watchful and mindful that we reap what we sow, so that we pay close attention to what we are sowing on a day to day basis, and ultimately become a people doing good to all, but especially to those who belong to the church, we will have created a counterculture that stands out in the world. People will take notice of this type of church and be drawn to it, at the very least out of curiosity.