Ep. 27 | Sharing is Caring
Speaker: Jesse Turkington
Summary: It's nice to share your toys.
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Music created by Chad Hoffman
Artwork created by Anthony Kuenzi
Jesse’s Personal Notes:
Galatians 6:6-10
Opening
Hey welcome to Pickled Parables! My name’s Jesse.
This episode is called Sharing is Caring and we’re going to look at Galatians chapter 6, verses 6 through 10. The author of this letter has spent an incredible amount of space explaining what a daily life with the Holy Spirit looks like. What it means to live in the victory of Jesus Christ’s resurrection.
In today’s passage, the Apostle Paul focuses more on the how of living out the command to love one another. How can this love be demonstrated? How are we to interact with each other? How are we to walk by the Spirit in living out this divine calling of caring for one another?
So, as you listen, look specifically for what Christians are called to do, how Christians are to do it and why Paul gave these instructions.
So, with that, let’s take a look at today’s lesson.
Introduction
You know, it’s interesting. God has such an interesting way of providing the necessities of life for His servants. Often, it’s received through fellow man, but God orchestrates it and He dictates it out of a place of sovereignty.
Let me share with you the testimony of a guy named George. He lived in the 1800s so this was a while ago. But this man protected and supported over 10,000 orphan children throughout his lifetime, all by his active faith in God and his powerful prayers that were rooted in this faith.
George didn’t get paid for this work. He didn’t host fundraisers, or make public appeals for donations or even set up personal meetings to discuss the orphanages different needs. He trusted solely that God would provide for the children that he housed and he presented every need to the Lord every day.
One rather famous example of a need, is when his orphanage ran out of food. 300 children sat down to eat breakfast and George sat down with them to pray a prayer of blessing. He thanked the Lord for the food that they were about to have despite not having any food prepared for them.
And after a slight awkward moment, there was a knock at the door. It was the local baker. He said that God had woken him up in the middle of the night and told him to bake more bread than usual and then take it to the orphanage. Incredible. George thanked the man and took the bread in to the children and gave it to them.
But a few moments later, there was another knock at the door. This time it was the milkman. A wheel had broken on his cart outside the orphanage and he didn’t want to leave it to go get what he would need to fix the cart because as he said, the milk would get stolen. So, he decided to give all the milk in the cart to George and the children of the orphanage.
This is absolutely stunning!
George Muller is praised today as an exemplary model of Christian faith.
Admittedly, he died a very poor man in 1898. But his every need was taken care of. He didn’t have an excess of wealth. He didn’t even have a nest egg tucked away for emergencies. He was very poor. But his faith not only inspired others or gave opportunity for others to practice their faith, but George Muller’s faith falls firmly into the teachings of Scripture.
1 Peter 5:6-7 (ESV)
Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.
Matthew 6:25-34 (ESV). This is Jesus speaking:
“Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.
But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
Written in the Bristol Times newspaper on the day of George’s funeral, it said: “… he was raised up for the purpose of showing that the age of miracles is not past”. Because his accomplishments were only accomplished through the faithfulness of God.
God miraculously took care of George and all the children that he housed. But God would frequently partner with other local people to dispense His blessing.
Like the baker who woke up and listened to what God had told him in making extra bread for the orphanage. There are countless testimonies surrounding George Muller of how God led people to dispense His blessings.
Galatians 6:6
In Galatians chapter six, Paul speaks specifically about this idea of bearing with one another. Being led by the Spirit to love other people without developing a self-centered sense of pride.
Today, we’re going to pick up in verse six where this idea is further developed.
Galatians 6:6-10 (ESV)
Let the one who is taught the word share all good things with the one who teaches. Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up. So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith.
This is continuing Paul’s line of thought from Galatians chapter five. Paul spoke about the difference of living according to the flesh and living according to the Spirit. Paul phrased it as “gratifying the desires of the flesh” and “walking by the Spirit.”
This idea of living a daily life became compounded in chapter six with how Paul talked about bearing (or living with) with one another.
So as we pick up in chapter six, verse six, we are continuing this thread of thought by addressing how we should care for one another.
Galatians 6:6 (ESV)
Let the one who is taught the word share all good things with the one who teaches.
Now, this certainly addresses the blessing of encouragement. It is so encouraging when a student comes to a teacher and shares how their teaching has benefited them, how their teaching has impacted them.
It can be a difficult role to serve as a teacher because the research can easily become overwhelming, the preparation can be really taxing, it can drain your mental cognition to a point of weariness. Teaching is hard. But to have someone come to you and share a word of encouragement through something they’ve learned, that can refresh and bring motivation and bless a teacher beyond words.
So let the one who is taught the Word share all good things with the one who teaches. This certainly includes encouraging the teacher by showing them the fruits of their labor.
But something else that Paul is addressing, is the instruction of support. Not just an encouraging type of support but a financial support and a physical support. Let those who are taught the Word share all good things with the one who teaches.
Paul addresses this topic in five other places among the Epistles. I’ll just share two of them with you.
In 1 Corinthians 9:3-14 (ESV), it says:
This is my defense to those who would examine me. (This is Paul speaking) Do we not have the right to eat and drink? Do we not have the right to take along a believing wife, as do the other apostles and the brothers of the Lord and Cephas? Or is it only Barnabas and I who have no right to refrain from working for a living? Who serves as a soldier at his own expense? Who plants a vineyard without eating any of its fruit? Or who tends a flock without getting some of the milk?
Do I say these things on human authority? Does not the Law say the same? For it is written in the Law of Moses, “You shall not muzzle an ox when it treads out the grain.” Is it for oxen that God is concerned? Does he not certainly speak for our sake? It was written for our sake, because the plowman should plow in hope and the thresher thresh in hope of sharing in the crop. If we have sown spiritual things among you, is it too much if we reap material things from you? If others share this rightful claim on you, do not we even more?
Nevertheless, we have not made use of this right, but we endure anything rather than put an obstacle in the way of the gospel of Christ. Do you not know that those who are employed in the temple service get their food from the temple, and those who serve at the altar share in the sacrificial offerings? In the same way, the Lord commanded that those who proclaim the gospel should get their living by the gospel.
Paul also wrote in Philippians chapter 4:
I rejoiced in the Lord greatly that now at length you have revived your concern for me. You were indeed concerned for me, but you had no opportunity. Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me.
Yet it was kind of you to share my trouble. And you Philippians yourselves know that in the beginning of the gospel, when I left Macedonia, no church entered into partnership with me in giving and receiving, except you only. Even in Thessalonica you sent me help for my needs once and again. Not that I seek the gift, but I seek the fruit that increases to your credit. I have received full payment, and more. I am well supplied, having received from Epaphroditus the gifts you sent, a fragrant offering, a sacrifice acceptable and pleasing to God. And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus (Philippians 4:10-19 ESV).
This is the same attitude as George Muller. Being content with little, knowing how to live with abundance and trusting that the Lord will provide.
Yet even with this mentality, Paul is instructing the Galatians to do their part. To remember and give care to the teachers who instruct them. Let the one who is taught the Word share all good things with the one who teaches.
Take care of them. Support them so that they can continue teaching and instructing you.
But this isn’t supposed to come from an obligation. This is the continuation of Galatians 5:13 (ESV).
For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.
This is developed in chapter 6:2.
Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ (Galatians 6:2 ESV).
And now we have in verse 6:
Let the one who is taught the Word share all good things with the one who teaches (Galatians 6:6 ESV)
Galatians 6:7-10
Let’s look to verse 7:
Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life (Galatians 6:7-8 ESV).
It’s true in a general sense that we reap whatever we sow, meaning we harvest whatever we plant, but it should be noticed that this reminder comes right after an instruction of Christian giving and supporting teachers of the Word.
So as Paul says, don’t be deceived; God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he reap.
These Galatian Christian’s lives were in full view of God, and God is not mocked. That is, people don’t get to go behind God’s back and demean Him.
This phrase that Paul uses comes from the word “nose” and means to “to turn up one’s nose,” right? You can kind of imagine that. It means to “treat contemptuously.”
To claim that one accepts the whole counsel of God as found in His Word and then act in contradiction to what the Word commands so clearly is to treat God with contempt. God cannot be mocked without bringing about His displeasure and discipline. Thus, the phrase, you reap what you sow. And if you genuinely believe that you can have this contempt without consequence, you’re deceiving yourself. Don’t be deceived; God is not mocked.
Verse 8:
For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life (Galatians 6:8 ESV).
This is calling to mind Paul’s passage about works of the flesh and the fruit of the Spirit. With which he concludes by saying, “If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking one another and envying one another.”
To sow to your own flesh is to look to your own interests beyond anyone else’s. It’s not the love of others, it’s the love of self. The desire for self-gratification. The positioning of self above others. The only long-term reward from this practice is that of physical corruption and decay.
Jesus Himself declared in His sermon on the mount:
“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also (Matthew 6:19-21 ESV).
That last sentence is key here. Where your treasure is there your heart will be also.
The one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.
Do you remember how Paul told the Philippians that the gifts they gave to him were like a fragrant offering, a sacrifice acceptable and pleasing to God. What did he mean by that? How was it a gift to God if he was the one who received it?
It’s because that is the way God choose to provide for Paul in that moment. The Philippians were led by the Spirit to share gifts of support to Paul just like how that baker was led by God to bake bread for George Muller and his children. The one who sows to the Spirit has laid up their treasure in a place of everlasting.
Verse 9:
And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up (Galatians 6:9 ESV).
Paul gives further encouragement here, urging the Galatians to stay steady. To not grow weary or lose heart.
The reward of everlasting is rarely immediate. And sometimes, Christians might actually suffer rather than prosper after sharing with another. So, Paul tells them, “Don’t be discouraged. In due season we will harvest what we have sown in the Spirit.”
They needed to remember that the reaping of the spiritual harvest would come when God determined that the time was right.
So, Paul wraps up this instruction with verse 10:
So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith (Galatians 6:10 ESV).
So now this goes beyond teachers. This includes people like George Muller. As we have opportunity, let us share all good things with those around us and especially to our brothers and sisters in Christ.
Through Christ, we are called to love one another. Jesus told His disciples, that the world will know that you are mine because of how you love each other.
And this love does not come from a place of self-gathered or self-willed emotion. This love comes from the Holy Spirit and He directs us in how to demonstrate this divine care to others.
Sharing is caring, and as we walk by the Spirit, we should be sensitive to His leading and bear with one another with joyful giving. Don’t grow weary of doing good and don’t become prideful in how good you might be. We reap what we sow. So, take care of one another and use every opportunity that you are given.
John Wesley said it so succinctly, so I’ll close with his statement: “Do all the good that you can, in all the ways that you can, to all the people that you can, as long as ever you can.”
So let it be.
Closing
Thank you for joining us in this episode of Pickled Parables!
We are nearing the end of this Epistle, this study in Galatians, and we have the goal of finishing it in the next episode. Next time we’ll look at Galatians 6:11-18 and check out Paul’s final instructions and warnings for these churches in Galatia.
Thank you so much for listening to these lessons. We at Parable have been praying for you who listen that the Lord my be glorified through your learnings and that you may be encouraged in your daily walk with the Spirit.
If you’d like to reach out to us to ask a question or to leave a comment, send us an email at contact@parableministries.com or find us on Instagram at parable_ministries.
Thank you again for listening!
Until next week, I’ll catch you later.