“Let the one who is taught the word share all good things with the one who teaches.” (Galatians 6:6 ESV)
• Who are our teachers of the Word?
• How do we share all good things with the one who teaches?
Who are our teachers of the Word? They can be pastors of churches, or they can be Sunday School or small group home Bible study teachers, or they can be people through whom we are being taught the Scriptures on the internet, or they can be members of our own family in our own homes. For you do not have to have a Bible college or a seminary degree nor to be credentialed by any particular church denomination nor to have a specific title in front of your name to qualify you to be a teacher of the Word of God.
In fact, sometimes those things listed above are hindrances to the true teachings of the Scriptures under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, for so many are teaching and are relying upon human philosophy and theologies and denominational doctrines to teach them truth rather than them relying on the Scriptures themselves, studied in context, to teach them what is truth. Now, it is good to have teachers but provided that we are also studying the Scriptures in context to make sure we are hearing the truth.
Now, if we are the ones being taught the word of God by others, then we’re to share all good things with the one who teaches. This does not tell us what those good things are. They could be some kind of financial support, where needed, or they could be providing a meal sometimes, or just taking them a loaf of bread. Or it could be just to thank them occasionally for their hard work and for their dedication to the Lord and to his word, provided they are teaching the truth and not the lies. For encouragement goes a long way!!
“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)
• What is meant here by sowing and reaping?
• How are our lives impacted by what we sow and reap?
We are not to be deceived, because God cannot (will not) be mocked. And if we mock God it means that we are turning up our noses at his truth, and we are deriding and insulting the truth of his gospel. We are rejecting the truth of the gospel in favor of the lies and we are mouthing empty words of faith in Jesus Christ which are not followed up with action, for we are confessing faith but we are not living the faith that we profess. So, we need to understand and believe that God is indeed going to judge us by our works.
In farming terms, if I sow seed for corn, I am going to reap corn. In spiritual terms, if I sow sin, I am going to reap death, not life eternal. But if I sow righteous living and obedience to my Lord, I am going to reap eternal life with God. For if I live to the flesh, I will die in my sins, but if I live to the Spirit, in obedience to my Lord, then I will have heaven as my eternal destiny. So, we can’t just profess faith in Jesus Christ and we are good to go. We must walk in obedience to his commands and no longer in sin.
But this reaping and sowing is not just a matter of life or death, or where we will spend eternity, although that is the BIG ONE. But this has to do with our everyday lives and how we treat other people and how we treat God and how that impacts our relationships with the Lord and with other humans. And it can impact our employment or our incomes or where we live. And it can impact our marriages and our children and the body of Christ, too. For none of us lives alone, but we all impact someone for good or for evil.
“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.” (Galatians 6:9-10 ESV)
• What is the good that we are not to grow weary of doing?
• What is meant by “in due season” we will reap?
• What is the good that we are to be doing to everyone?
Now when others are sowing sin and reaping more sin and are impacting other people’s lives for good or for evil, if we happen to be among those impacted by those who are sowing and reaping evil, then we may be tempted to “throw in the towel” and to give up and to run away from the pain of it all. And so the encouragement here for all of us who are being faithful in service to the Lord is to not grow weary of doing good, for in due season, when the time is right, we will see the fruit for our labors.
Take for example Christian missionaries who have gone to other countries where the gospel had not previously been taught. For some of them it took many years of hard labor in service to the Lord in learning the people’s language and their customs and how to communicate with them in order to reach them with the message of the gospel to the point to where many would come to faith in Jesus Christ. So we may not always see immediate fruit for our labors of love in service to God, but one day we will.
And the good that we are to be doing to everyone is the good that God does for us and that he has called us to do as his followers. And this involves laying our own lives down on the altar and to sacrifice our own comforts and personal time in order to be obedient to the Lord in ministering to the needs of other people, however and whenever God leads us. And it could be in providing for people’s physical, emotional, and spiritual needs like being a minister of encouragement via gifts, words, songs or a phone call, etc.
Teach Them
An Original Work / May 24, 2012
Based off various scriptures
Open up the blinded eyes of
Those who walk in sin’s darkness.
Turn them to the light of Christ
And to His righteousness.
Turn them from the pow’r of Satan.
Turn them to the peace of Christ,
So they may receive forgiveness
And eternal life.
Teach them to put off their old selves
And their former way of life,
And to put on their new self,
Reborn to be like Christ;
To not copy worldly customs;
Be transformed in life and mind;
Obey freely His word in them,
Pleasing unto God.
Teach them how to love their neighbors
Truly as they love themselves;
Be a witness; share the gospel;
Satan’s lies dispel;
Comfort all who mourn in sadness;
Share Christ’s love and joy today.
Do this through your life and witness
For your Lord always.
https://vimeo.com/125485489
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