“Ye
Which Are Spiritual”
Galatians 6:1-5
1)
Brethren,
if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest
thou also be tempted.
2)
Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfil
the law of Christ.
3)
For if
a man think himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceiveth
himself.
4)
But
let every man prove his own work, and then shall he have rejoicing in himself
alone, and not in another.
5)
For
every man shall bear his own burden.
Prologue
Since
the Lord has prompted that this series be continued, evidently, there are still
some issues that must be resolved concerning our motivation. For one thing, it is essential that we recognize that neither church "work" nor
"attendance" is any indication of one's true motivation.
Why
would we say this? Because not everyone comes to church because he loves the
Lord. This can apply as easily to us as it does to our "neighbor in the
pew." Therefore, we must examine ourselves. What is our motive? God's is that as many as possible be won to the Lord—and
He was willing to put Himself on the
"back burner" to accomplish this. How, then, can anyone count himself
to be "about the “right thing” and be willing to do any less?
Main
Thought
“(Those)
which are spiritual” appear to be an even more unique and secluded group than
before. You see, there are not many of us able to “measure up” to this standard.
Why? Because we are “stuck” in the “human mode.”
We
had no choice but to be born naturally upon the first birth. Therefore, if we ever reach the state of being spiritual, it will only be because the old man is put away and
that man is resurrected to new life
in Jesus.
Too
often, we fail to be honest enough to admit that we do not enjoy new life in
the Lord because we are not willing
to accept it. Part of the explanation for this is that we get “hooked” on being
“human.” After all, it “feels good” to
the human to be human.
Many
people talk of being “delivered,” but generally, most do not know what that
means. Take, for example,
Now,
one cannot deny that they asked for
and obtained deliverance from God.
Nevertheless, their newfound “freedom” was not enough, for they still were not satisfied. What they missed was God's instruction to
them even in their discomfort. You see, whatever the Lord allows, He allows that He might be able to “get our attention” and minister to us.
In
this situation, the Egyptians’ idea was to tax them so severely that they would
cease to reproduce. Lest we should prove to be shortsighted, let me remind you
that this is, indeed, the devil's tactic, today. He would “tax” us with cares,
concerns and problems that we would “shift” our gaze from the Lord to
ourselves, thereby failing to show forth the victory of the overcoming life. This,
of course, means that we would fail to “attract” men to the beauty of the Lord.
All too often, what should be merely “theoretical” ends up being a “way of life.”
Every
time we succumb to the “threat” of the enemy, we find him to be a “hard
taskmaster.” On the contrary, when we are obedient to God, we find Him to be compassionate,
The Source of Strength and our
Deliverer. Nevertheless, we allow him to keep us so busy with problems that we
have absolutely no time to produce any “children.”
“Spirituality”
is indicated by many things, the chiefest being that
the spiritual person does nothing
according to the prompting of the flesh. This means then that that person can
accept nothing through the flesh, but
all that he experiences must be "processed" through the "understanding"
of the Holy Spirit. This type of confidence
is the only thing that will allow one to “rest” in this life and only one who
"rests" can be truly said to be trusting God. "Rest"
must be accepted in order to be enjoyed. Jesus offers it and is the Only
One Who can grant it—but we can enjoy
it only as we are willing to “cease
from our own labors.”
The
route to "notoriety," celebrity and fame in the Lord is through accomplishing that which the Lord has saved
us to do. Most of us want to be useful; to “matter,” but we fail to realize
that this will never come through us, but only though surrendering to Jesus that He might do the “doing” through us.
This
brings us to what we really do: when
a situation arises, how do we really handle it? Yes, we know what we are told to do, but when we conduct ourselves
as finite “human” beings, when assessing our “instruction” (that is, to put all
into His hands), we feel that we have not received enough “information” to be
able to do as the Lord expects. What about what “button” to “push”; what prayer
to pray; what scripture to read? Too often, when we can't figure out something
to “do,” we decide that “someone” is keeping us from the information (that we must
know) that would make us saved.
One
thing is certain—if one is not
spiritual, he should attempt to help no one. While one who is not
meek will want to “tell someone off” who fails to receive him, there is a use for one willing to be meek and spiritual.
No
more can we attempt to convince ourselves that our “problem” is what someone
else is doing, has done, will do or has threatened
to do. Salvation is lived by the individual, because it is the individual who will go to heaven—not the “group.”
Now
is the time to “stand on the word,” and “stay in the Spirit!” Our salvation has
never been dependent upon our ability
to “muster up” great faith to believe God. What He says simply must be accepted
and “ye which are spiritual” will do just that. n