Grace Abounds
A Sermon Series Through the Book of Galatians
“What It Means To Be Spiritual”
Galatians 5:26-6:5
Introduction
Paul upon hearing that the churches in Galatia were being “bewitched” by false teachers into believing that salvation is by Jesus’ sacrificial death on the cross and keeping the law, he wrote the churches this letter where his focus has been on reminding them that salvation is by faith, and has given five chapters of arguments for grace.
Now in his closing remarks he turns to how members of the church are to live out that grace within the normal gathering and living as a church. How we understand grace directly affects how we live our lives, especially within the church.
Jesus told a parable in Luke 18:11-14, “Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11 The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed1 thus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. 12 I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.’ 13 But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’ 14 I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”
Being Spiritual Involves An Accurate Understanding of Oneself (5:26)
26 Let us not become conceited[1], provoking one another, envying one another.
To be conceited is to have a deep insecurity; you don’t think you have honor or glory – so you have to prove it to other people. Conceited people are constantly comparing themselves to other people. They determine that they are better than other people, so they look down on others. Then these people provoke people into a competitive contest (to call people into battle).
Envy means you want something that rightfully belongs to another person. When you think about yourself you think you are lacking in some area, you want what others have, so you are looking up to other people.
If you are conceited “looking down on some” because you feel better than them, or you envious “Looking up to someone” because you want what they have – you are focusing on how another person makes you feel. Both want to gain an identity by beating and surpassing others. Your value as a human being is not based on how other people make you feel (either puffed up or emptied out) – but on how we relate to Christ.
When we walk with the Spirit, He helps us apply the gospel to our lives, and our self-worth is not found in comparing ourselves to other people. We will find a balance where we don’t hate other people or self-loath ourselves. We are bold in who we are, a child of the king, and we are humble in that we know God’s grace has been extended to us time and time again.
Earlier in the chapter, Paul is discussing walking in the Spirit and what that means. Conceit, provoking, and envying “are characteristics of believers who are not walking by the Spirit but who are in the flesh and are therefore disrupting the body fellowship by producing the deeds of the flesh rather than the fruit of the Spirit (vv. 16-25).”[2]
Being Spiritual Involves Restoring and Bearing (6:1-5)
Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted. 2 Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. 3 For if anyone thinks he is something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself. 4 But let each one test his own work, and then his reason to boast will be in himself alone and not in his neighbor. 5 For each will have to bear his own load.
(v. 1) “if anyone is caught in any transgression,” – the transgression is an act of the flesh (instead of walking with the Spirit) and Paul gives us the picture of slipping into a hole, they have fallen down. “This indicates that the sinful behavior is a pattern, and a particular sin has, gotten the upper hand with this person. It is a habit of sinful behavior that the person will not be able to overcome without help and outside intervention.”[3] It is then the responsibility of the spiritual to retore him.
Growing up there was a tv show that was very popular called the Jerry Springer Show. A person would be brought out and introduced, and they would share an outlandish story that would shock the crowd. Then the other party would be brought out, which usually resulted in fighting on the stage. This would go on for a while, large men would separate the parties, and make then sit down. And then Jerry Springer would allow the audience to ask them questions and make comments on what they had shared. It was a spectacle, a way for people to be shocked at another’s behavior, all the while laughing and pointing, and feeling superior to those on the stage.
In 1 Corinthians 3:1 Paul is concerned that the church is not spiritually mature and he can’t go further in his teaching because they won’t understand it, “But I, brothers, could not address you as spiritual people, but as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ. 2 I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for it. And even now you are not yet ready, 3 for you are still of the flesh.” So, when Paul refers to the Galatians as you “who are spiritual” he is referring to those who are walking by the Spirit, they are manifesting the fruit of the Spirit, and not controlled by the flesh (the church). They are the spiritual experts in mending men’s souls. How do you restore a fallen brother?
Matthew 4:21 when Jesus encounters James and John, uses this same word, restore – “And going on from there he saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets, . . .” Fishermen would sit around gather the nets and restore and mend the nets. The fallen brother’s soul is broken and needs someone to come along and gently put it back into its’ functional state (you help them get rid of the sinful behavior). The assistance was to be given in gentleness. Restore – “It was also used in medicine, for example, to describe the setting of a broken or dislocated joint. In much the same way, a sinner (brother) needs to be put back in order.”[4] The goal is restoration not condemnation.
But there is a danger when you go to help “mend another’s net” is that you would be tempted yourself and fall into a transgression, “Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted.” In 2 Corinthians 4:18 ff., Paul is talking about where our focus should be, “For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, 18 as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.”
As you seek to help a brother fix his net, you must keep looking to the eternal, walking by the Spirit – or you may fall into the same trap as your brother who is focusing on the wrong thing. If you doing spiritual surgery and helping to restore another – the sin Paul is specifically warning against is pride. It is hard not feel self-righteous when you are correcting someone else’s sin.
The reason the wayward brother’s life must be mended and put right is because as long as there is a hole, they can’t accomplish what God intends for them to accomplish.
Church is a team sport not an individual event.
(v. 2) “Bear one another’s burdens,” – In the original language it is keep on bearing, the same word bear is used when Jesus bore the cross (John 19:17)[5] It is when the load we carry is about to press us down – someone steps in and bears the load, they help to carry it (or a portion of it).
In the bearing one another’s burdens the spiritual person will fulfill the law of Christ. What is the law of Christ? If you were to take all of Jesus’ teachings and boil them down to one thing – what would it be? Matthew 22:35-38 “And one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. 36 “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” 37 And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 38 This is the great and first commandment. 39 And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Instead of trying to keep over 600 laws, instead focus on two things, loving God and loving your neighbor. Loving God is to keep his Word, and love your neighbor is to help them mend the net of their soul, and to carry their load when needed.
(v. 3) “For if anyone thinks he is something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself.” – This is an unrealistic view of yourself and your capabilities. Instead, Paul says to have an accurate understanding of who you are, where you are spiritually, and what you are capable of doing – then go to work. “One of the chief reasons many Christians do not bother to help fellow Christians is that they feel superior to sinners and wrongly consider themselves to be spiritually something when the truth is they are really nothing.”[6]
The conceited Christian has deceived themselves into thinking they are more spiritual than they truly are – and therefore can’t help restore another believer (get the beam out of your own eye, before pointing out the speck in another’s eye), and they can’t actually do what they think they can do for God, because they over estimate their ability.
(v. 4) “But let each one test his own work,” – Paul goes back to the idea of comparing. We are not to look at other’s work and claim ownership in it, (conceit would be thinking that your job is more important than others’) and envy would be wanting to do what other’s are called to do.
We are not to jump on the coat tails of others work when you have done nothing to help. Instead based on a Holy Spirit guided understanding of who you are, then carrying your cargo from one place to the next, doing your job. Then (you) evaluate and test your own work. “Am I doing a good job?”
Expertise, Execution, Evaluation
How do we measure success? “his reason to boast will be in himself alone,”—
“God has done in him and through him, it is the basis of his faithfulness and obedience, not on the basis of what he may have accomplished in regard to, or compared to, another.”
(v. 5) “For each will have to bear his own load.” – There are two words used here for load, The word for load that we are to share is baros, it was used of cargo and is a large load. We share in the larger loads. Another word for load phortion, is given for the individual load (like a backpack) which is smaller. Each believer has a small weight that they carry – their responsibility.[7]
Jesus’ load that he asks us to carry is “light.” The religious leaders for the Jewish people, their load was heavy (Matt. 23:4). The trip from one place to another (2025 to 2026) carrying the load (either that of others that we are helping to carry, or our own load we have responsibility for) – this past year, was it successful or was it a failure? You will have to bear the consequences either way.
“On the one hand, Paul exhorts the Galatians to assist those who were weighed down by the burdens and cares of life; on the other hand, he exhorted them to evaluate their own work honestly and to accept the burden or responsibility for their own actions.”[8] There is mutual accountability (we hold each other accountable to sin in our lives), and we each share individual responsibility (I have my God-given job/task to do that is mine alone).
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[1] Literally, “vainglorious”
[2] John MacArthur, The MacArthur New Testament Commentary, Galatians (Chicago Illinois; Moody Press, 1987) 175.
[3] Timothy Keller, Galatians For You (United States, The Good Book Company, 1013) 166.
[4] Philip Graham Ryken, Reformed Expository Commentary, Galatians (Philipsburg, New Jersey; P&R Publishing, 2005) 245.
[5] Archibald Thomas Robertson, Word Pictures In The New Testament, Volume IV (Nashville, Tennessee; Broadman Press, 1931) 315.
[6] MacArthur, 181.
[7] Frederick Rendall, The Expositor’s Greek Testament, Volume III (Grand Rapids, Michigan; WM B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1967) 189.
[8] Gerald L. Borchert, Cornerstone Bible Commentary, Galatians (Carol Stream, Illinois; Tyndale House Publishers, 2007) 330.
