What Is Your Heart Pursuing? (Galatians 6:7-10)
GIST: There are consequences for the lives we live, so we should persist in pursuing Jesus and His excellence.
This morning we’re moving right along in our study of Galatians. I think we have two more sermons to go! (Of course, me thinking that now doesn’t mean too much ☺.) We’re picking up with the application portion. He’s talked about how grace will transform our lives personally by changing our hearts and creating in us the fruit of the Spirit. Then, we’ve spent the last few weeks looking at where Paul specifically tells us that lives transformed by grace will be lived in community. Two weeks ago, we looked at how this will lead to having hearts for restoring believers who have fallen into sin. Last week, we talked about how it will also lead to the mutual ministry of carrying one another’s burdens. Today, we’re coming to another broader application. Let’s look at verses 7-10→
“7 Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap. 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. 9 And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up. 10 So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith.”
Paul’s hammering home several key truths here this morning. This faith he’s been talking about isn’t something we can fake. The change is either real or it’s not. But the end results of that reality are so wonderful that we don’t want to miss them. Here’s our gist: There are consequences for the lives we live, so we should persist in pursuing Jesus and His excellence.
I. There Are Consequences For The Lives We Live
Look again at verses 7-8. “7 Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap. 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.” I have one major observation I want to break down from these verses: you can’t hide from this universal truth ☺. First, we have to notice→
You Can’t Hide. The implication here is: don’t try! Don’t try to fool yourself...which we do...and we can. But guys, that’s a dangerous place to be. If you try to convince yourself your faith is genuine when your heart is in no way being led by Jesus, you’re closing yourself off from real life-changing repentance and forgiveness by convincing yourself you don’t need it. If your life is still defined by doing what you want and pursuing whatever makes you feel good, you’re not following Jesus. Don’t try to fool yourself and→
You can’t fool God! He sees the heart. He knows the intention. You can’t hide from Him...and you shouldn’t want to. Guys, I want to make sure I say this here. This could definitely be taken very negatively. Like, you can run, but you can’t hide. God is going to get you eventually, so just give up! The picture here isn’t one of a vindictive God trying to smite you. The picture here is of a loving God coming to rescue you. You can try to deny your need for rescue all you want, but at the end of the day, He knows the truth and still loves you. That won’t change no matter how hard we run in the other direction. Why? Because you can’t hide→
From This Universal Truth. The core of this truth is reaping what you sow. I feel like I need to at least camp out here for a solid bit to make a few observations. First→
This is neither Karma nor Legalism. I think that’s important to point out because it’s easy to assume we’ve got a one-for-one kind of theology here. If I treat people well, they will treat me well. If I’m angry all the time, I’m going to make people angry. While in the most general of terms this is often true, we know it’s not always the case, and the truth here is far deeper than that. This is not about your behaviors earning you or not earning you “good things” or even Heaven. Instead→
This is a reality that tells us what you invest your life in will have results. I’m using the word invest intentionally here because we’re talking about lives being lived, not just isolated actions we perform. Therefore, investing in self—living your life for yourself and seeking after whatever brings you the most immediate pleasure—leads to corruption. This is the natural outworking of living for yourself. Investing in Jesus—which though it will work itself out in our lives as loving God and loving people starts with just surrendering our control back to Him and accepting His salvation— leads to eternal life from the Spirit. You don’t work your way into this! This is the natural result of letting Jesus change your life.
This isn’t about fabricating specific behaviors. We’re talking about true heart pursuit, what you long for, what you chase after, who you are. So of course, sowing in this context is about feeding our hearts. Think about these two aspects at least for today:
1. What do you let into your heart? I know you probably think this is one of my soap boxes because I come back to it so often, but I really think it’s a ball we’ve dropped as Christians. Why don’t you see fruit in your life? Why don’t you feel bold in your witness? Why don’t you see changes in the way you love or treat others? What are you feeding your heart? No one wants to sacrifice their entertainment, but think about this. What shows are you watching? What books are you reading? What sites are you visiting? What conversations are you having with your friends? What perspectives are you letting pour into your heart? Because these will shape you and you won’t be more like Jesus by filling your heart with trash. I know that sounds so harsh, but guys, I love you and I don’t want us to make excuses for just doing what everyone else is doing when we know that won’t bring hope. I love how Paul puts it in Philippians 4:8: “8 Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.” What’s going into your heart?
2. What life choices do you make? We have to be careful not to take this out of the context of the letter. What has Paul just been talking about? He had just addressed the works of the flesh in the contrast with the fruit of the Spirit, so we see that we shouldn’t be walking toward sinful and destructive lifestyles, but instead should be turning to Him. Then, he just illustrated what that will, in part, look like and literally just told us to spend our time restoring fellow Christians who have been overtaken by sin and help carry each other’s burdens. Are you? Am I? Does this define us?
There are consequences for the lives we live→
II. So We Should Persist In Pursuing Jesus And His Excellence
“9 And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.”
Don’t Give Up. Let me just make a few observations here. First→
Weariness is natural, but not helpful or God honoring to remain in. Weariness is addressed all over the Bible. Jesus even calls the weary and heavy laden to come to Him and experience rest. You will get weary of doing good. It will sometimes seem like too much. That is natural. However, remaining in your weariness isn’t helpful, and it actually demonstrates an attitude that dishonors God.
Let me just unpack that a bit. Weariness will keep you from being productive. It’s a great tool for distracting believers from what our lives are supposed to be about. If we’re so focused on our own weariness, we’re not focused on loving God and loving people. Furthermore, weariness forgets the bigger picture. When we allow weariness to take root, it’s really selfishness. We’re overwhelmed. We’re not getting the gratitude we think we deserve. We’re not seeing the results we want to see...etc. This forgets that our life isn’t about us. It’s about Him and people seeing Him. It’s about walking with the God whose love for us is unshaken by whatever is leading to our weariness. So here Paul tells us not to be weary because we will see the harvest in due season. Second observation→
Due season is His time. We don’t like that because we know that might mean never seeing the harvest this side of Heaven, and it will always mean never seeing the whole picture this side of Heaven. Now, this doesn’t mean just keep doing whatever you’ve always done and calling it ministry even if it’s not actually helping anyone see Jesus more clearly. What it does mean is don’t stop pursuing His excellence because→
Will reap is a definite promise, and the context is eternal life. You will see a harvest, and in the context here we’re still talking about living lives that reap eternal life. Come to Jesus for salvation. Then, with that changed heart, pursue Jesus for the rest of your life. Let Him be the purpose of your life, and you will spend eternity with Him. Don’t give up, but→
Do Good. I know that seems like just a call to be moral people, but goodness is reflecting Jesus to the world. “10 So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith.” I have a few quick thoughts in this final verse, but let’s hit those in our→
TAKEAWAYS
Don’t try to fool yourself. Pursuing selfish desires leads to corruption.
Feed your heart the excellence of God.
Love those around you.
Take care of each other.
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