Lesson 5: Be humble (6:1-5)
 
**Rhetorical theme**: Be humble.
 
**Full theme**: We must be humble as we walk in the freedom that we have in the Spirit.
 
1. Introduction
    
    1. Before starting let's take a quick refresher
        
        1. Chapters 1-2: Paul defends the source of the gospel - from God, not men
        2. Chapters 3-5: Paul defends the truth of the gospel - it has been God's way from the start
        3. Chapter 5: Paul teaches the Galatians how to walk in the freedom of the gospel
            
            1. The stakes are high: they must understand that the only alternative to freedom is total slavery
            2. Their situation is serious: they must understand how they departed from freedom and how to get back
            3. Freedom is a tool: they must understand that freedom is tool used to lovingly serve others
            4. Walk by the Spirit: they must understand that the only way to wield the tool of freedom is to walk by the Spirit
    2. Now Paul turns to some very practical lessons is using freedom--what it looks like to walk by the Spirit
    3. [Read 6:1-5] 3. In dealing with sin (v1)
    
    1. Observations
        
        1. "Caught" - "learn something by surprise"
            
            1. Not an intentional sin
            2. Who does the catching?
                
                1. Most likely the brother himself
                2. Notice, it does not say "when you are spiritual catch a brother by surprise in his sin"
                3. Does to be implied that we are not to be on the prowl for other believers sinning. If it catches the brother himself by surprise, so to say, then it ought to surprise us too.
        2. "You who are spiritual"
            
            1. A mature believer, walking in the Spirit: 1 Cor. 2:14-15, 3:1-3
            2. Probably not usually a task a young believer should take on
            3. Emphasized by the next observation…he must know how to watch out himself
        3. "Restore"
            
            1. Definition: set a broken bone, mending fish nets
            2. Connection to the body of Christ - mending a member
        4. "Looking to yourself"
            
            1. Not "I'm doing better than you so let me help you figure it out"
            2. Humility to recognize that we can also be overtaken by sin in the same way
    2. What it does _not_ look like: John 8:3–5
        
        1. It seems they may have set a trap
        2. They publically shamed the woman--not gentle at all
        3. No interest in restoration, the woman was just a tool to trap Jesus
    3. _[Dad dealing with Horst in the fallout of his sin]_ 5. In bearing one another's burdens (v2)
    
    1. Observations
        
        1. "Burdens": _baros,_ a burden too heavy for one man to carry, "hardship which is regarded as particularly burdensome and exhausting"
        2. "The law of Christ": John 13:34, 15:12
        3. The context
            
            1. Bearing the fallout from sin with a brother
            2. Application not only in the context of sin: Rom. 15:1
    2. In contrast to legalists: Matt. 23:2-4
    3. _[Ada dying: entire family and chapel rallied around us, Joel and Annette cancelled vacation and stayed with us, Dad came home early from Austria and helped with funeral arrangements, everyone came the funeral]_
    4. _Transition:_
        
        1. The spiritual person (the one walking by the spirit) looks for others who have a burden that needs help in carrying and comes alongside them
        2. The legalist looks for someone else to bury under a burden so that, in comparison, he looks righteous, this is what Paul warns of next: the spiritual one will avoid this legalistic tendency if he is humble in his view of himself￼
6. In our view of ourselves (v3)
    
    1. Definitions
        
        1. Humble: "not proud or haughty: not arrogant or assertive"
        2. Proud: "having or displaying excessive self-esteem"
        3. Arrogant: "exaggerating or disposed to exaggerate one's own worth or importance often by an overbearing manner"
        4. Notice the words "excessive" and "exaggerate"
        5. So: not being proud or arrogant means having the _right_ amount of self-esteem and the _right_ understanding of one's worth or importance
        6. Not: seeing one's self as worthless or good-for-nothing
    2. Think of ourselves with sound judgement: Rom. 12:3
    3. NLT has a nice interpretation: "If you think you are too important to help someone, you are only fooling yourself. You are not that important."
    4. _[Melissa from our NKC Bible study a few years ago: she came late one time because she had needed to stop by QuikTrip first. While there, she saw a woman sitting outside against the building who was obviously strung out on drugs. Instead of passing her by, she took her into her car and drove her all the way down south to a rehab facility of some kind to get her help.]_
      
    
7. In examining works (vv4-5)
    
    1. Observations
        
        1. "Examine"
            
            1. "try to learn the genuineness of something by examination and testing"
            2. Same word as in 1 Cor. 11:28 -- one of the aspects of the breaking of bread
        2. "Own work" - not another's work
        3. "Reason for boasting"
            
            1. Other translations
                
                1. NKJV - "rejoicing"
                2. NLT - "the satisfaction of a job well done"
            2. Not something bad
                
                1. Phil. 1:26 "proud confidence"
                2. 2 Cor. 9:3 "boasting" about them
                3. Heb. 3:6 "boast of our hope"
        4. "In regard to another"
            
            1. Not to compare ourselves to others
            2. Rather, compare our works to God's asking of us--have we done well? Are we walking in the Spirit?
        5. "will bear his own load"
            
            1. The reason why to examine our own work
            2. "Will" is future tense
            3. "Load"
                
                1. Not the same word as in v2
                2. Used of a pack for marching soldiers, ship cargo, etc
                3. A bearable, measured, appropriate load--something we can and should bear
            4. Several different takes on this in commentaries
            5. Future judgment for the believer
                
                1. 1 Cor. 3:10-15
                2. Romans 14:10-13 - very similar context
    2. Bearing each other's loads does not give us a free pass to be easy on ourselves
    3. It is the opposite of what a legalist does
        
        1. He does not honestly evaluate his own works
        2. He concentrates on primarily examining the work of others so that he can feel righteous in comparison 9. Conclusion
    
    1. We are to:
        
        1. Be humble in dealing with sin
        2. Be humble in bearing one another's burdens
        3. Be humble in our view of ourselves
        4. Be humble in examining our own works
    2. Paul continues his last third of the letter with his fifth lesson on the freedom of the gospel of justification by faith
    3. Simply put, Paul is admonishing the Galatians to walk in humility: this is a key component to walking by the Spirit
    4. He uses dealing with sin as a his example, it highlights the differences between legalists and those who walk by the Spirit
      

Bible Chapel of Shawnee  
May 6th, 2018  
Galatians series