Galatians 6:1-10
Luke 10:1-11, 16-20

Regret. Regret is, simply, the recognition of having made a mistake. That’s it. Regret has a lot of other undertones now, too. It can be seen as something that you have to get past. It can be something that eats you over the course of your life. It can even be something that you continue to use to judge yourself without mercy.

We can regret an action we took that ended up being a mistake. “I wish I had not …” Or we can regret that we did not take an action. “I wish I had …” I was listening to an interview with someone who has researched people’s regrets. He found that nearly all of the regrets that people carry around and can’t shake are of the second type. “I wish I had gone to college.” “I wish I had finished my schooling.” “I wish I had followed my dream.”

The researcher made an interesting observation. Part of the difference between these two kinds of regrets is that when we regret doing something that ended up a mistake, we can learn from it and do differently next time. But, a missed opportunity often was so long ago that we don’t have the chance to learn from our mistake. And so all we can do it live with regret at not taking a step.

Learning from mistakes is central to being human I think. And to make a mistake and not learn or be able to learn from it is a loss. There is a lot of popular wisdom in seeing a mistake as a chance to learn. That wisdom encourages us to not be afraid of making a mistake.

As Christians, … as Christians, we really should have even more reason to not fear making mistakes. We believe that Jesus’s sacrifice was made to free us from sin. If we are not sinners we don’t need to be Christian. And yet we are often paralized in our decision making because we feel that taking the wrong step could be insurmountable. I really want to know as soon as I can that I sinned, because I don’t want to do it, I want to learn from it to repent and avoid it next time, if possible. I don’t want to look back and only have regrets. I want to look back and see how my mistakes and repentance and Jesus’s forgiveness has redeemed the path I’ve taken.

I’ll come back to regret in a few minutes.

Today we have two texts which are not obviously related. We have Jesus’s commision of the seventy to go ahead of Him to the cities and towns where He would soon go. And we have a section of the last chapter of Paul’s letter to the churches in Galatia.

I’m going to start with the Galatians text. When I looked up the lectionary texts for this week I found a familiar friend in the Galatians text. This text is actually the chapter that follows the text I studied for a previous sermon, and it follows the text that Daniel preached from last week.

So today we have the final chapter of the letter. Paul is now circling in on his conclusion, the conclusion that he has been setting up with the last 4 or 5 chapters. Paul is writing this letter to the churches in Galatia that he and Barnabas founded a few years before. (I am new at this and this week I realized that Galatia is not a single city but a province. It is right there east of Asia.) You can read about Paul and Barnabas’s trip when they founded these churches, marked here, in Act 13 and 14. Anyway, since then some people are visiting those churches, who are telling them, “Oh, Paul has set you to fail. He left out an important thing. To really be a Christian you need to live by the Jewish law, and specifically you men all need to be circumcised. We’re surprised Paul didn’t tell you this.” Well, Paul has found out and he sends a letter in which he says, “No, no, I told you what you need to know and those people have it wrong. And they are trying to enslave you for their own reasons.” He is having none of it, and if you look at verse 5:12 you will see that he gets pretty, um, pointed. I’ll leave that for you to look up on your own.

Anyway, Paul in this letter shows how Jesus and His Spirit are what is needed. And in chapter 5 he outlines how to know if you are on the right path. Daniel highlighted how we have been freed FROM sin TO love each other. And Paul also shows them what the fruit of the Spirit will look like in their lives. Last time I noted that while the works of the flesh are numerous, the fruit of the Spirit is singular, but has nine attributes, “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.” And if they the Galatians, or we, are living by the Spirit’s power we will bear this fruit. Now this text in front of us, Paul traces out what that fruit might look like in a few specific instances. So, 6:1

1 Brethren, even if a man is caught in any trespass, you who are spiritual, restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness; each one looking to yourself, lest you too be tempted.

First, who is Paul saying this is for. Notice that he tells “you who are spiritual” to restore the person. But, Paul really isn’t letting some people off the hook, as if some are spiritual and some are not. No, he is telling the church you are spiritual, so you restore.

A couple commentators I read made the point that “caught” has a sense of “overtaken”. As in, this person was not moving toward the goal, perhaps he was wandering aimlessly or moving sluggishly or paralyzed by indecision, but whatever he was doing sin was able to catch up with him. I found this helpful. As Christians, we can often get a sense that we are just biding our time until Christ returns or some next milestone occurs (interim pastor?), but that is not what is implied here. Paul seems to be saying that there is a path to be taken, and if you are on the path and moving toward your goal and concentrating on the face of Jesus then sin will not be able to easily catch you up.

Also, while the person who sinned here was maybe not as active in following Christ as he could have been, he also wasn’t looking to sin. He was caught. He was tempted and that was enough. Paul at the end of the verse also seems to be saying that we are not better because he warns us not to put ourselves in a place where we will be tempted. The sin does not indicate one person is better than another. We all sin.

Ok, someone sinned, if we see a brother or sister, or son or daughter, who is caught by sin, Paul says to restore that person. The Greek word used here could also be translated repair. It might have been used for setting a broken bone or surgically removing a tumor. The emphasis is on cure, not teaching a lesson nor punishment. If you have had a bone set, you will be able to tell us that just because it is about curing doesn’t mean it is all roses and bliss, right. The cure is often painful. But, for the one restoring - pain is not the goal, a cure is the goal. And so we need to approach the sinner with gentleness. Hey! There is one of the attributes of the fruit of the Spirit! There is plenty of pain as a result of the sin, we should not be heaping it on too.

But, we can not avoid addressing the sin either. Letting someone walk around with an injury is not loving them. Maybe they don’t realize it yet due to shock, maybe they are in denial because they just want to get this one thing done. Maybe they don’t realize anything is amiss. So when we see sin in a person we should act FOR the person who sinned. FOR the sinner. That is hard to do. Possibly impossible, if the Spirit is not in us.

We can not be gentle - if we are harboring hurt, or embarrassment, or indignation, or self-righteousness, or anything else that is about us, about the flesh. But we are called to be gentle. When we confront sin everything about us must be set aside, and we must be all about the care and cure of the person who is “caught by sin” otherwise we ourselves will be tempted, too. Tempted NOT to bear the fruit of the Spirit.

So our congregation has struggled with this, haven’t we? Every time the leadership asks for input, the issue of feeling judged always makes the list. I assume when someone in our midst feels this judgement we are talking about a situation like the one in verse one, right? Paul is not telling us to be judges. “Judgmental” is not one of the attributes of the fruit of the Spirit.

In May when I talked about the fruit, I said that the fruit of the Spirit is compelling. When we experience love or joy or gentleness in this case, it makes us want to bear fruit, too.

To be compelled to bear fruit we have to experience the fruit. It really doesn’t matter if the other person intends to bear fruit. Should I repeat that? The person restoring can have absolutely the best intentions to bear fruit, but if the one being restored doesn’t perceive the fruit they are not compelled.

Have you ever done something for someone and had them take offense. My immediate response often is, “but I had the best intentions.” But the fruit has to be perceived. In relationships perception is normally what matters. It is more important than intention.

In the case of restoring with gentleness, sometimes the receiver wants to be blind to the gentleness, sure, but I’d guess that many times gentleness isn’t felt because the restorer has been caught by temptation.

We need to be good and kind and loving to make the effort to try to restore a person, but we also must be gentle and faithful, that is really, really only desire their best. Sometimes being gentle and faithful will mean hearing the other person say, “you are hurting me right now,” and resisting the temptation to get defensive, but to actually listen and repent yourself.

Here is one of those places where we want to avoid regret. We shouldn’t avoid people caught by sin, because if we do we will never learn how good the Spirit’s fruit is. And when we respond we want to step in ready to be changed ourselves. If both sides want to bear fruit then both sides will expect to be changed by the Spirit in the interaction.

2 Bear one another’s burdens, and thus fulfill the law of Christ. 3 For if anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing he deceives himself.

Here Paul goes a little deeper. We have to be willing to take on another’s burdens. If those burdens are keeping our friend from bearing fruit, we want to be quick to relieve them. That is what loving our neighbor looks like. Remember the law of Christ from 5:14 last week? “For the whole law is fulfilled in one word, in the statement, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’”

Verse 3 is interesting. I think there can be a couple meanings here.

There is the literal meaning that you deceive yourself if you think you are something you are not. Is this just Paul slipping a random proverb into his argument? It does sound like something you’d read in Proverbs doesn’t it? Like “Let another praise you, and not your own mouth” or “The prudent man sees evil and hides himself, The naive proceed and pay the penalty.” or one I reprimand myself with regularly, “A fool always loses his temper, But a wise man holds it back.” (As an aside, 31 chapters in Proverbs, one a day, repeat each month. I guarantee a chuckle, or groan, every day.)

Back to Paul. I don’t think it is a random proverb. Look how this verse comes right after bearing another’s burdens, and starts with the word “For.” A connecting word. Looks like Paul is speaking to those of us who won’t let others take our burdens because we think (deceive ourselves to think) we can bear it ourselves. But really, if I am bearing something that makes me grim rather that joyful, then it is preventing me from bearing fruit. Have I been caught up by sin? Probably, New sermon, same motto “It’s all about the fruit.” Anyway, looks like one way to restore is to insist on helping with a burden.

I wonder, really I do wonder, do we feel judged because all of us are confused about who is being restored and who is restoring? If we always wanted what was best for the other, then wouldn’t we both want to restore the other as soon as we see the need? The interaction could start with me seeking to restore you, and quickly become about you restoring me.

We need to move on,

4 But let each one examine his own work, and then he will have reason for boasting in regard to himself alone, and not in regard to another. 5 For each one shall bear his own load.

Wait a minute. Is this actually the text? Did I copy it down wrong? Test my own work so that I will have reason to boast in myself alone? That just sounds wrong. And didn’t verse 2 just say to bear each other’s burdens, but verse 5 says each one will bear his own load? What is going on here?

So first, just to get it out of the way. Preachers will sometimes read a text like this and then say well the Greek word means something a little different than the English word, so see there is no contradiction, tada! Well, I looked and there is no language magic. All the English words mean what the Greek words mean, as far as I can tell. So “examine your own work” and “boasting in regard to himself” really just mean what it looks like they mean.

I’ve got a couple ideas. One is to paraphrase these verses as “mind your own business.” I think Paul is not opening the doors to wagging tongues and micro-management in verses 1-3.

Another way to look at this, everyone here will stand before the white throne on the last day. When I do - I will be standing by myself, even if it looks like a big crowd. When God opens the book of my life he will compare what is in it to what I could have done, not to what Mike did, or anyone else. My faith is my own. I must bear fruit. Jenelle’s fruit will not be accounted to me.

But where will my fruit be seen in that book? Well it will be seen in my life lived with Jenelle. It will be seen in the interactions and care that I showed my children and people on my path. And as an elder it will be seen in the care and love I have shown you who have been placed in my care. I need to bear the Spirit’s fruit in the way I restore those I see caught in sin. Everyone should bear fruit. I cannot bear fruit for them.

And also, other people’s sin is not a mark on me. Not my kid’s sin, nor coworker’s sin, nor your sin. My life will be looked at for how I bore fruit. So I can be more concerned for them and that they bear their own fruit, than defensive or judgemental. I have no vested interest other than loving and caring and being gentle, bearing fruit.

As a congregation we have insisted that the Church is part of God’s plan for recreating the world. And I firmly believe that. But the Church is not important because it is a community. The Church is important because it provides a place to practice restoring one another in gentleness. It is the primary place where each of us can encourage every other one of us to bear the Spirit’s fruit. Not for the congregation, but for each of us.

So to summarize what we’ve seen in this paragraph. Paul is telling us we can bear fruit, no that we must bear fruit, while we learn to gently restore our fallen friends, and we should bear one another’s burdens, but we also must not take over everything, but we should restore and take another’s burdens, so that they too can bear fruit.

Before we get to the last paragraph of our Galatians text, let’s take a quick look at the text from Luke. I won’t go verse by verse, don’t worry.

In Luke 10, Jesus is doing something that we haven’t seen yet in Luke’s gospel. He is sending out seventy disciples to go out in pairs to visit and proclaim the day of the Lord to the surrounding villages and towns.

It is an interesting text because Jesus is way detailed in what they are NOT to do.

4 Carry no purse, no bag, no shoes; and greet no one on the way.

I’m no extravert, but “greet no one on the way?” Weird.

7 And stay in that house, eating and drinking what they give you; for the laborer is worthy of his wages. Do not keep moving from house to house.

What if I’m vegetarian? What if I’m a teetotaler? What if they are Gentile and I’m a Jew? Why only one house? What if I find out there is another house that is really receptive to our message?

Jesus actually never even does what is a standard practice for us. We give a bunch of instructions … Ok Any questions?

He doesn’t give reasons, he doesn’t explain. He just says “do this.” “Do it this way.”

How would we respond if we were in their shoes. I imagine being sent out to various blocks in the Tenderloin or maybe to a red county in the valley. Would you just say, yeah OK let’s go? I hope I would, but I know myself enough to know that inside I’d be making contingencies and working up good spiritual sounding excuses.

But from the text what would I miss if I refused to take a step.

17 And the seventy returned with joy, saying, “Lord, even the demons are subject to us in Your name.” 18 And He said to them, “I was watching Satan fall from heaven like lightning. 19 Behold, I have given you authority to tread upon serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall injure you.

Woah! They found joy and provision and they participated in the work of the Kingdom. Yes in the next verse they get some more teaching to adjust their perspective, but man, even that is actually fantastic?

20 Nevertheless do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are recorded in heaven.”

I read this like the time Jesus forgave the sins of someone and then said “So that you know I can forgive sins I’ll also heal them physically.” In this case “Your name is recorded in heaven. And so you will know that is true, you have seen that the spirits are subject to you.” I don’t want to miss out on that confidence. I want to take the step that is in front of me.

Imagine if someone had not taken the step and saw these coming back. I think that might just be one of those regrets we were talking about earlier. “I wish I had taken that step.”

Jesus calls us to take steps that are clear sometimes, and not sometimes. Sometimes there are lots of instructions and sometimes there are not. Sometimes he could call us to something that raises fear before we go. Sometimes that fear is justified.

But always, Jesus has told us what to do, and we can take the step or we can regret it later. Sometimes when it isn’t clear we may actually take the wrong step, but that will be clear soon enough, and we will be able to repent and take another step from there.

Let’s go back to Galatians.

6 And let the one who is taught the word share all good things with him who teaches.

I’m just going to equate “the word” with “The Word”, Jesus. This is a reference to spiritual teachers and leaders of the congregation. And does it mean to pay them well? Maybe. Paul though didn’t ask for payment. He was a tentmaker and worked so that the church would not need to pay him. So, I think it is included but not all he means.

So, is this a stand alone instruction? Is Paul just getting to the end of his letter and starting to toss random stuff in? Like making sure that the churches in Galatia is taking care of their pastors? Some read it that way. But I think it is actually tied into the argument Paul has been making. See that “And” at the beginning? Another connecting word. So let’s take this verse in the midst of at least some of the section.

5 For each one shall bear his own load. 6 And let the one who is taught the word share all good things with him who teaches. 7 Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap. 8 For the one who sows to his own flesh shall from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit shall from the Spirit reap eternal life.

Well, that does sound different.

Each one shall bear their own load, and apparently part of that load is caring for the people who teach them about the word.

Paul specifically says, “share all good things with….” All Good Things. That covers all good things. So payment is in there. But I’m going to narrow it down to one thing for the sake of not preaching all day. What good thing has Paul been talking about for a chapter? The fruit of the Spirit.

Have we (I said “we” intentionally), have we shared the fruit of the Spirit with our pastors? Would they say that they perceived love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness and self-control, in our interactions with them and each other in 2017 and 2018? How about our session? Have they perceived that fruit? Did we sow to the flesh or to the spirit? What should we expect to reap? We should not be deceived. God is not mocked. We will reap, have reaped, what we have sown.

Here is a place where we can put into practice what we hear from the Sermon, right now, immediately. I have heard people talk about the need for healing. Yes. But Paul, he is more interested in our fruit. He says that we need to be restored. I should speak for myself, I need to be restored. I am not saying reconciled. I am saying restored, to our God.

Not all of us need to be restored from the same sin. We have all had our own responses. Some of us had back reactions to the pastors. Some of us had bad reactions to those reactions. It will look different for each of us. But I can tell you that for me, what I need is restoration to the faith, to the Spirit.

This is not a place where we need conversations. Talk is sometimes a distraction. Talk can paralyze. Talk can stop us so more sin can overtake us. We need to be restored, each one of us. I started this sermon by talking about regret. I do not want to regret that I did not seek restoration for you. I do not want to regret being settled in my own response.

Jesus, our Lord, is the one, the only one, who can actually restore. Will we allow ourselves to be restored? Do we want to bear the good fruit, the spirit’s fruit? Do we want to sow to the spirit? I do. There is only one person in my way. Me!

There will still be relationships to repair, there will still be hurts to heal, but relationships can not be repaired, they will not be restored, hurts will not be cured, until each of our relationships to the Father, Jesus and the Spirit are restored.

We are in the process of hiring an interim pastor. It won’t make a difference who the pastor is, if we are not willing to bear the fruit of the Spirit. We will fall into the same patterns. What we want means owning the faith for ourselves, wanting to be Christian all the time, asking for the Spirit to bear good fruit in us.

If we wait for this pastor to come we are wandering aimlessly, easy pickins for sin. We can’t wait for the interim to come to start sowing to the spirit. When that new pastor comes we each want to be reaping from the spirit.

The next step is right there in front of us. Now is the time to start sowing. To start restoring each other from sin.

So, this was my attempt to restore with a spirit of gentleness. I’m sure I’ve not done it well. But, I want to start practicing more.

Paul had one more thing that he did in our text. He blessed the Galtian churches. I’ll address it to us. Grace Fellowship,

9 And let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we shall reap if we do not grow weary. 10 So then, while we have opportunity, let us do good to all men, and especially to those who are of the household of the faith.

Benediction (Romans 15:7,5-6)

Accept one another, just as Christ also accepted us to the glory of God. And restore those who have been caught by sin with a spirit of gentleness.

Now may the God who gives perseverance and encouragement grant you to be of the same mind with one another according to Christ Jesus; that with one accord you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Preached at Grace Fellowship Community Church on July 7, 2019.