Transcription downloaded from https://sermons.highlandparkbaptist.net/sermons/95850/the-principle-of-interdependence/. Disclaimer: this is an automatically generated machine transcription - there may be small errors or mistranscriptions. Please refer to the original audio if you are in any doubt. [0:00] . . . . [0:15] Galatians chapter 6, the theme of the whole study has been moving forward with God individually and corporately as a church. [0:26] And praise God, it looks like you're moving forward, I don't want to say quickly, in his time. And thank him for that. [0:37] Follow with me as I read in Galatians chapter 6, verses 1. And this is a shorter, a little bit shorter chapter, 18 verses. I'll be reading now the New International, but if you've got another translation, I think you'll be able to follow along. [0:53] Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently. But watch yourself, or you also may be tempted. [1:07] Carry each other's burdens. And in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ. If anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself. [1:20] Each one should test his own actions. Then he can take pride in himself without comparing himself to somebody else. For each one should carry his own load. [1:32] Anyone who receives instruction in the word must share all good things with his instructor. Do not be deceived. God cannot be mocked. [1:44] A man reaps what he sows. The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction. The one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. [1:59] Let us not become weary in doing good. For at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those of the family of believers. [2:17] See what large letters I use as I write to you with my own hand. Those who want to make a good impression outwardly are trying to compel you to be circumcised. [2:33] The only reason they do this is to avoid being persecuted for the cross of Christ. Not even those who are circumcised obey the law, yet they want you to be circumcised that they may boast about your flesh. [2:49] May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me and I to the world. [3:02] Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything. What counts is a new creation. Peace and mercy to all who follow this rule, even to the Israel of God. [3:22] Finally, let no one cause me trouble, for I bear on my body the marks of Jesus. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit, brothers and sisters. [3:39] Amen. Let's pray before I get into the heart of the outline. Father, we pause before you. [3:59] Father, we acknowledge your presence. You're everywhere at all times. [4:13] And yet you are with the believer. We are your temple. Your spirit lives within us. [4:24] Made possible through the work of your precious son, Jesus Christ. His life. His suffering. [4:39] His death. And then his resurrection. And even today, interceding for us. [4:55] Thank you for your many promises. Thank you for yourself. Holy. Righteous. [5:08] Powerful. Loving and kind and merciful. You are a gracious and patient God. [5:20] Thank you. You've given us your word. Not just given us your word as a promise that we would give to each other. [5:33] But you've given us the living word. Written down so that we can read it. Your spirit. Your spirit. Your spirit. Who inspired the original writers. [5:44] And who have protected it all these centuries. Is here today to make it living for us as well. We come this morning. [5:59] We have many needs. Some of our needs are physical. Some are financial. [6:13] We have relationship needs. We have doubts. [6:30] We have questions. We have questions. We have thoughts and memories that we're not sure how to handle. minister to us today Holy Spirit transform our minds and our hearts afresh today that we would be your light we would be your salt because we are your children as we embrace your faith stirring in our hearts and follow [7:32] Jesus Christ individually and as a church we move forward with you in Christ and we pray amen you have an outline there and I hope you'll make a couple of notes and you'll fill in the blanks here several things that I see from chapter 6 on this principle of interdependence the first is share your strength with those who are struggling that's a common theme throughout the Bible but particularly in the New Testament and particularly here share your strength with those struggling we see this in verse 1 and verse 2 5 6 and 10 right off the bat it says brothers if someone is caught in a sin now I read this book the other day that talked about how you can really tell what somebody is thinking is not what they would put down on a survey but it's what they google you know surveys just always have some hidden flaws in them part of it is even if it's anonymous sometimes we just have this tendency to answer the way we think somebody wants us to answer even though we can't be anonymous sometimes we're even deceiving ourselves but they have figured out that when we are searching for something on google it just kind of comes out of the the depths of our heart and so with with that in mind how would you answer this phrase brothers if someone is caught in a sin how would you finish that how have you finished that in the past have you ever been involved maybe here at this church or maybe in another church have you ever been around in not necessarily in the circumstance have you ever been in a situation where you knew of someone that had been involved in a sin and you you'll hate to put categories on that but in a serious sin how did you respond how did the church respond there's a lot of ways to respond and we're given other directions as well but here it tells us that if we are spiritual those who are mature in Christ we should seek to restore that person now restoration we don't we don't have time to get involved in the restoration but again it's basically setting here telling us out of our strength we need to share with those that are struggling because someday we're going to be struggling and we're going to need somebody with strength to reach out and help us and that could be various things it could be emotionally it could be financially it could be just encouragement it could just be some very practical help [11:17] I need my lawn mowed just something very practical this idea of the principle of interdependence we share our strength with those that are struggling the body is made complete when in turn we share the lessons that we have learned from Christ the things that we've battled through and and for the most part conquered we can share that with others even our defeats we can share so that others might even avoid the battle but in the midst of the battle could know there can be victory the stages and I probably touched on this briefly as we began several weeks ago different stages you see the first is the independent stage [12:18] I don't need anyone I'm good I'm okay and so there's this independence well we know that that can be a problem we would say the answer then is the dependent stage and and you'd be right the dependent stage is very valuable it's very important that's the point where we say I have sinned I need help I need a God I need the Lord God Almighty I need Jesus Christ and I'm dependent upon him for my every breath for my life for my existence I need Jesus Christ and and that is the stage but as we confess our dependence upon Christ Christ turns around and says there's something else you need to understand as you move through the dependence stage there is a interdependent stage that we understand that we have to serve one another and we're really dependent upon each other as the body of [13:45] Christ as the local church the body where the spirit distributes the gifts as he sees fit there can't just be a hand we need a foot as well there can't just be the eyes we need an elbow we need all the parts with Christ as the head and so that's the principle of interdependence working together serving one another our strength helping those that are weak in verse one it mentions someone that is caught literally it's some kind of a lapse or a slip rather than a willful sin and it says there to restore this is the word in Matthew chapter 4 verse 21 used when they were mending the nets sometimes we need some mending in our lives you who are spiritual what a mark a mark of spiritual maturity to be able to say [14:48] I want to reach out and help now we can't excuse we can't sweep under the rug we deal with it but we deal with it in love and with mercy and with grace Philippians 2 3 says do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit but in humility consider others better than yourselves each one should look not only to his own interests but also to the interests of others I'm pretty good for watching out for my own interest when I go to a restaurant I'm checking the menu out you know what I'm looking for on the menu I'm looking for the things I like you know how I'm going to determine whether that's a good restaurant or not they could have all kinds of fancy stuff they could have all kinds of stuff matter of fact our son and daughter in-law they like to go to sushi restaurant well [16:00] I went with them once but if I'm driving down the road if I'm hungry there could be 20 different sushi restaurants down that road and I'm not going to pull in one of them I enjoyed it I you know I went with them it was you know for them I was practicing the Bible here I was looking out for the interest of someone else but if I'm looking out for my interest I'm going to the restaurant that has the stuff that I like that that's just kind of the way it works except spiritually we need to understand and I have to practice this because Mary and I a lot of times we'll split the meal so then what happens it's not just all about what I like I need to take into consideration what [17:01] Mary likes because we're splitting this thing you know how it is one gets to cut and the other gets to choose which one all right moving on carry each other's burden sometimes of course you get a little confused here because it tells us in verse two that we're to carry each other's burdens but then verse five says for each should carry his own load that doesn't make sense well let's look at it a little further this idea of carrying each other's burdens It's the same phrase as Jesus carrying the cross in John 19 verse 17 and the burden here means a weight it means the degree of difficulty Matthew 20 it's used of born the burden and the heat of the day 2nd Corinthians 4 17 it's about one's load that is pressing them down but then when it says carry his own load this is not talking about the weight of it this is talking about what it is the cargo it's the same word that [18:21] Christ calls his portion portion is the transliteration of the word that we would see it as saying portion the cargo Jesus calls his portion light talked about that last week and then he talks about the Pharisees portion is heavy in Matthew 23 the first phrase where we carry each other's burdens is talking about the weight we can help somebody with the weight of it but the second one is talking about the specific load! [19:00] that's where the tough love comes in and says you know there are just some things I can't help you with there are some issues now I could help you carry the weight of that issue maybe but you yourself have to deal with that issue and that's the difference there in the two phrases! [19:20] and so number one share your strength with those that are struggling! the second thing that I see in the principle of interdependence is to measure your growth by the spirit measure your growth by the spirit verses 3 verse 4 and 14 if anyone thinks is something when he is nothing he deceives himself each one should test his own actions then he can take pride in himself without comparing himself to somebody else and then in verse 14 Paul says may I never boast except in the cross of Christ this is a dangerous thing and it really comes into play when we get into community when we get close with each other this comparison of what we think is the standard this comparison of what we think we see in somebody else's life I read a book a couple of weeks ago called The Millionaire Next [20:21] Door anyone read that book I think it was written in the 90s it talks about the millionaire next door it was a study they did in the 90s and there are always outliers but for the most part the typical millionaire in the United States would not be recognized as a millionaire and one of the things I took from this book is the difference between having a large salary and accumulating wealth just because someone has a large salary doesn't necessarily mean they are accumulating wealth matter of fact the type of job you have and the neighborhood that you live in can be detrimental to you accumulating wealth because in certain kinds of jobs and in certain kinds of neighborhoods what's the phrase you have to keep up with is it the [21:23] Joneses but there are other kinds of jobs that you know pay pretty good and there are other neighborhoods where it's it's not so much that you're not keeping up with the Joneses it's just that the Joneses don't own as much stuff and so instead of spending all your salary and spending your salary plus you can begin saving you can begin investing you can be accumulating wealth instead of just having a large salary it talked about the kinds of cars that the millionaire next door drives it's usually a used car just stuff like the home obviously is you know just a kind of an average home there because the money's not just going into a house payment it's going into savings I can still remember I was probably in high school I don't know if I was driving around with my dad [22:27] I think we were and we saw Mr. Thompson you don't know who Mr. Thompson is and there's a lot of Thompsons we saw Mr. Thompson drive by in this old pickup I wasn't real old but it was kind of just an old regular pickup and he said that guy's a millionaire and I'm late junior high early high school and I looked at my dad thinking you've got to be kidding millionaires don't drive old pickups like that but he knew that Mr. [23:06] Thompson had accumulated wealth and not just had a large salary you can't always tell what is going on in somebody else's life you can't compare yourself to someone else who you compare yourself to Jesus Christ now you might think oh my goodness I I don't even compare to Jesus Christ that's the first step when we realize we don't compare to Jesus Christ and when we bend our heart and we bend our knee just like we saw last week he takes that heavy yoke off of us and he gives us his yoke that is light it's still going to control us but it's going to be him controlling us and not whatever we make ourselves slave to so measure your growth by the spirit [24:11] James 4 6 says but he gives us more grace grace that is why the scripture says God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble humbling ourselves to the Lord never boasting about what we may have and then number three this idea of interdependence the principle of interdependence take responsibility for your actions verses seven and eight do not be deceived God cannot be mocked a man reaps what he sows those who sow to please the sinful nature from that nature will reap destruction and the one who sows to please the spirit from the spirit will reap eternal life we've got to take responsibility for our actions Washington's a mess Washington's been a mess for a long time but it seems like it's just getting messier and all these investigations and all these testimonies they're trying to get someone to accept responsibility and it seems like nobody wants to accept responsibility the essential [25:26] Calvin and Hobbes it's not printed anymore but you can still find how many of you liked Calvin and Hobbes Bill Watterson was the creator and the character Calvin says to Hobbes Hobbes I feel bad that I called Susie names and hurt her feelings I'm sorry I did that Hobbes suggests maybe you should apologize to her Calvin ponders this for a moment and then replies I keep hoping there's a less obvious solution it's so obvious and yet we miss it so much have you heard any good really good apologies lately sports figures actors actresses personalities politicians when's the last time you had heard a really really good apology they're few and far between we need to take responsibility for actions and then the fourth one keep doing what you know if you're like me you spend a lot of time trying to figure out what you don't know and there's a time and a place for that but we need to spend more time doing the things we know that we should be doing there's no doubt we have no question it's not even up for discussion we know these things for certain and yet we seem to stray off and keep trying to focus on what we don't know verse nine says let us not become weary in doing good for at the proper time we'll reap a harvest if we do not give up you know the things that are said right at the beginning and the things that are said right at the end tend to in our letters and correspondence have the most weight obviously all of [27:52] Galatians all of the Bible is equally inspired and equally important but here toward the end just another reminder don't give up don't let your I was going to say don't be discouraged we're going to be discouraged don't let your discouragement lead you to giving up having our eyes on Christ keep doing what we know time after time Jesus taught that success in the kingdom of God was about perseverance faithfulness continuing to move forward in the the movie Ben Hur and this goes a while way back Cecil [28:52] B. DeMille was the director the director is the one that's in charge of getting everything and getting it just right and then even once they've got it all on film that's really you're about halfway done then they take that film and they can edit it and splice it and tweak it and you know change it a little bit and add this and add that and so and that's what the director does and so during the filming of Ben Hur Charlton Heston who was the main character and they're having this chariot race and of course they're on chariots you know that was before they had the computer animation and stuff like that they're literally on these chariots and racing around and filming and everything and so Charlton Heston comes up to Cecil B. [29:41] DeMille he said I can barely stay on this thing there's no way I'm gonna win the race and the director replied to Charlton Heston your job is to stay in the chariot my job is to make sure you win it's an illustration but there's application there stay faithful stay focused on Jesus Christ your eyes on him your eyes in the word your heart before him your knees kneel before the cross and Jesus Christ is all sufficient Jesus Christ is your Lord your master [30:42] God is your father to guide and direct you he loves you he can be trusted that's really what it gets down to it's control and why do we not want to give up control because we don't trust we're not sure that person is going to have my best interest in mind you can trust God and he finishes with this blessing in verse 18 the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit brothers and sisters as you move forward with God [31:42] Thank you.