The book of Galatians makes two amazing claims.  One, we can connect with the real, risen, Sovereign Christ.  And two, we can display him in and through our lives.  We connect with him in a startling way - not by bringing all our goodness to impress him with. No, weI connect with Jesus by simple faith in his perfect law-keeping life for us and his atoning death for us.  This is Galatians chapters 1-4.  

Having received Jesus and being connected to him, we now get to display him by becoming more like him and living like him; not in our own strength, but in the strength of the Holy Spirit who dwells within us.  This is Galatians chapters 5-6.  We do this by “walking by the Spirit” or “keeping in step with the Spirit”.  Essentially to keep in step with the Spirit is to say yes to him moment by moment out of love of Jesus.  And rather than undoing our assurance of salvation, this increases it.  We have assurance of our salvation because of what Christ has done outside of us on the cross AND this cup of assurance is filled even more as we experience the life-transforming power of the Spirit in us making us more like Jesus in the way we actually live.  This is where our text takes us today.  Here’s the BIG IDEA from these 5 verses: Do good with inexhaustible energy to all people, especially Christians as long as you live. I get his from vs. 9-10 (read)

I am not saying, nor does this text say, “Do good in order to be saved.” Rather, I am saying and this text is saying, “Do good as evidence that you have been saved and in order to display the One who has saved you.”  I love the way Paul makes this connection in another passage. In Ephesians 2, Paul says:

By grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not of yourselves.  It is the gift of God.  Not as a result of works so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. (Ephesians 2:8-10)

We are saved by “grace through faith”.  And we are saved “for good works”. This “saved for good works” is massively important.  Here’s why:  The world and some who call themselves christians see Jesus as remote - he [maybe] lives in heaven, within the walls of church buildings, and as a phantom in the hearts of people who have faith in him.  We have the privilege of showing people what the real Jesus is like - that he is alive and near and living in us. In Matthew 5:16, Jesus says, "Let your light shine before others so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven."  John 13:34-35 says, “A new commandment I give you, that you love for one another as I have loved you. By this all people will know you are my disciples.”

The command is unmistakable and serious. Do good with inexhaustible energy to all people, especially Christians as long as you live.  This is where Paul takes us in 3 steps: A warning, a promise, the actual command/exhortation.

1) Serious warning to heed

The warning starts with this startling words in verse 7 - “Do not be deceived: God is not mocked…” This is interesting - Paul is not addressing Christ-deniers for their mockery of God and self deception.  He is addressing the professing Christian who ignores God, living for himself and says they are self-deceived and mocking God.  Paul says, “Don’t do that!  This exact phrase “Do not be deceived” is used two other times - 1 Corinthians 6 and 15 (moral laxity). “Don’t you realize that whatever a man sows, that will he also reap?”

Just over a week ago… for 38 minutes residents and visitors to Hawaii were left terrified as they received an Emergency alert stating: “Ballistic missile threat inbound to Hawaii.  Seek immediate shelter.  This is not a drill.”  People took the warning with total seriousness and it turned out to be a false warning. This is not a false warning.  Notice three things about Paul’s warning here.  

First, Paul uses a helpful farming metaphor of sowing and reaping.  If we plant corn, we would never expect the harvest to be wheat.  Similarly, the actions of our lives are like planting seeds and the harvest we receive will be consistent with what we plant. John Stott said, “We cannot expect to reap the fruit of the Spirit if we do not sow in the field of the Spirit.”  If you sow to your own flesh - to your sinful desires, you will reap a harvest “from the flesh”, namely corruption. Second, notice this warning is against self-centered living.  I see this in two places. One is the phrase “his own flesh” could be translated “himself”. In other words, the one who sows to himself will reap corruption. But also see how Paul contrasts sowing to the flesh and sowing to the Spirit.  Sowing to the Spirit is described as outward focused - doing good to others.  Which I think implies sowing to the flesh is to turn in on yourself in a life of self-absorbed, deception.  And isn’t this what living in the flesh essentially is?  Third, notice it is not a warning that you will miss out on some blessings in this life, but this is a warning with eternal consequences.  Paul differentiates between the outcome of a life characterized by sowing to the Spirit and flesh (“eternal life” and [eternal] “corruption”).  It is certainly true that a life sowing to the Spirit will lead to peace and joy while sowing to the flesh will lead to sorrow and misery.  Paul’s point is that it is true eternally [press].  There is a tendency to view salvation through faith in Christ as a movie ticket. Though I don’t believe one can ever lose their salvation, the Bible certainly is clear that ones life and how they live prove whether or not they actually have it. Listen to this warning. Do not be deceived, God is not mocked.

2) Wonderful promise to hope in

Sowing to the Spirit is sowing with a view to a glorious future.  If sowing to the flesh is turning in on oneself in self-deception and self-absorption, sowing to the Spirit turns one outward to others in order to do them good.  And apparently Paul wants us to know this matters forever!  What you do now matters.  General Maximus in “Gladiator” said, “What we do in life echoes in eternity.”  That might be the only thing we have in common theologically with him, but that’s true.  Keep in step with the Spirit - he is leading you to live a life of outward focused love with every act, counting forever in the Kingdom of Christ.

Listen to the words of Jesus in Mark 9:41: Truly, I say to you, whoever gives you a cup of water to drink because you belong to Christ will be no means lose his reward.

Or Hebrews 6:10: God is not unjust so as to overlook your work and the love that you have shown for his name in serving the saints, as you still do.

It is amazing.  Every seemingly insignificant thing done in Christ’s name to love others is sowing to the Spirit and NOT being overlooked by God (diapers, meals, praying for stranger, helping a friend in financial difficulty, loving the orphan and widow, caring for an elderly mother, etc).  There will be a day when each one of us will stand before Christ and every genuine believer will hear him audibly say, “Well done!”  And it will be because of things we have actually done (Matthew 25).  As imperfect as our good works are, when done sincerely with the help of the Spirit, they are pleasing to the Lord.  And they are sowing to the Spirit which will result in a harvest for eternity!  For those who are not so short-sighted and earthbound, this is a wonderful promise.  Whoever plants seeds to the Spirit (keeps in step with the Spirit) will from the Spirit reap a harvest of eternal life, not as the basis of your salvation, but as evidence that you have been saved.  So we have seen a warning to heed.  A promise to hope in.  Third step...

3) Command to obey

This is where I get the main point: Do good with inexhaustible energy to all people, especially Christians as long as you live.  Verse 9 says to do good without growing weary.  My dad quoted verse 9 all the time and encouraged me and the other deacons with verse 9 - “Brothers, let’s not grow weary in doing good.”  To grow weary means to have our strength dissolve or weaken or to be exhausted. Paul says, “Don’t be exhausted.  Don’t run out of strength or weaken in doing good.”  In other words, do good with inexhaustible energy.

For how long are we to do good?  Verse 10 tells us.  “As you have opportunity.”  Opportunity here doesn’t mean, “When it is convenient.”  Or, “try to find some time…”   Or “if you have no time, don't worry about it”.  Of course, some have more available time.  The Gk. word Paul uses is “kairos” which is the same word translated “season” in verse 9.  Context determines meaning (ex.).  What season of life could you legitimately say, “In this season, I am committing to NOT doing good.  I am going to sow to the flesh this season.”?  So as long as you are breathing and physically capable, it is the season to do good.  Alissa’s Grandma Martha.

To whom?  Well, we see the answer to that as well.  Do good to all people, and especially those in the family.  There should be an attitude of doing good indiscriminately to whoever is in front of us.  But the Paul says, there should be special care for those who belong to Jesus with you.  So do good with inexhaustible energy to all people, especially Christians as long as you live.  Or as John Wesley put it,

Do all the good you can, by all the means you can, in all the ways you can, in all the places you can, at all the times you can, to all the people you can, as long as ever you can.  

There is not too much good, too many acts of love in the world. Now is the season to do good… because you are still alive.  This sermon would be incomplete if we ended here. I said do good with inexhaustible energy - which should make you ask “how do I do that?”  Only with energy that comes from an inexhaustible source. God’s inexhaustible grace fuels a life of obedience.

We need the good news of a good God doing massive good to the undeserving to go deeper.  You need to understand and experience the inexhaustible energy of Christ in doing good to you.  Only when the Holy Spirit takes this truth and drives it deeper into your heart will you have the power to get outside yourself and think of others and do good to them. And you’ll do it with a God honoring motivation.   God promises to “do good” to his children with all his heart and soul (Jeremiah 32:40).  

Think of all the good Jesus has done for you.   Jesus Christ lived a life of perfect goodness for you so that his goodness could count as yours and give you a perfect acceptance with God.  Christ did us good by going to the cross as our Substitute in order to forgive all the times we have done the opposite of good -  when we have done evil.  

Think of all the good Jesus is doing for you now.  The good of our High Priest who intercedes for us night and day.  The good of our Sovereign Friend who works all things for our good and will let nothing separate you from his love. 

Think of all the good Jesus will do for you in the future.  The good of our gentle and strong Shepherd who promises keep us to the end.  The good of our Bridegroom, who will finish the good work he started and make us ready to stand before him… perfect forever, making every sacrifice, every loss suffered, every act of obedience done in his name worth it.  

Do you realize all this?  Has it sunk deep in your heart?  If not believe it.  If you do believe it, take it deeper into your heart.  And then... do good with inexhaustible energy to all people, especially Christians as long as you live in order to display the risen Christ in the power of the Spirit.  Love as you’ve been loved. Give as you’ve been given to. Forgive as you’ve been forgiven. Serve as you’ve been served.  Do good as the Lord has been so good to you.  Let’s pray.

The good of our all sufficient Friend who is with us to comfort and help by his Holy Spirit.