Village Church Annandale (Sydney) sermons

There are two big issues we are focusing on in today's Daily Bible Time.

1 Prioritising what it is to do good for all, especially those in the household of faith

2 Not boasting about anything except the cross of Christ.


Gal. 6:6    Let the one who is taught the word share all his good things with the teacher. 7 Don’t be deceived: God is not mocked. For whatever a person sows he will also reap, 8 because the one who sows to his flesh will reap destruction from the flesh, but the one who sows to the Spirit will reap eternal life from the Spirit. 9 Let us not get tired of doing good, for we will reap at the proper time if we don’t give up. 10 Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us work for the good of all, especially for those who belong to the household of faith.

Gal. 6:11    Look at what large letters I use as I write to you in my own handwriting. 12 Those who want to make a good impression in the flesh are the ones who would compel you to be circumcised—but only to avoid being persecuted for the cross of Christ. 13 For even the circumcised don’t keep the law themselves, and yet they want you to be circumcised in order to boast about your flesh. 14 But as for me, I will never boast about anything except the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. The world has been crucified to me through the cross, and I to the world. 15 For both circumcision and uncircumcision mean nothing; what matters instead is a new creation. 16 May peace come to all those who follow this standard, and mercy even to the Israel of God!

Gal. 6:17    From now on, let no one cause me trouble, because I bear on my body the marks of Jesus. 18 Brothers and sisters, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Amen.

What I eventually become is made up a whole lot of little decisions now, a whole lot of minor choices now. 

Sow a thought, reap an act

Sow an act,  reap a habit.

Sow a habit, reap a character 

Sow a character, reap a destiny.

I could sow to the flesh or sow to the spirit. And those two actions are going to produce very different me's.

Gal. 6:6    Let the one who is taught the word share all his good things with the teacher. 7 Don’t be deceived: God is not mocked. For whatever a person sows he will also reap, 8 because the one who sows to his flesh will reap destruction from the flesh, but the one who sows to the Spirit will reap eternal life from the Spirit.

Galatians 6:3 For if anyone considers himself to be something when he is nothing, he deceives himself. 4 Let each person examine his own work, and then he can take pride in himself alone, and not compare himself with someone else. 5 For each person will have to carry his own load.

Someone might say shouldn't you cast your burdens on the Lord. And that is true (Psalm 55:22), where the Psalmist writes, 'Cast your burden on the Lord and he will sustain you.' And indeed Jesus says, 'Come to me all who are heavy laden and I will give you rest.'

But one of the ways that the Lord looks after us, is that he cares for us through the human friendships of our brothers and sisters in Christ.

Galatians 6:2 Carry one another’s burdens; in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.

We come today to one of the most pastorally helpful verses that I know.  I have come back to this verses again and again before and during complex pastoral conversations about sin. 

I want to encourage you to learn this verses of by heart, and then to live it as we encourage each other in holiness. 

Gal. 6:1    Brothers and sisters, if someone is overtaken in any wrongdoing, you who are spiritual, restore such a person with a gentlea spirit, watching out for yourselves so that you also won’t be tempted.

Followers of Jesus should expect a life of conflict between the fruit of the Spirit and the works for the flesh. The call of Christ is for us to 'crucify the sinful nature,' and 'keep in step with the Spirit.'

What must we do to control the lusts of the flesh and to bear the fruit of the spirit? 

There are two parallel decisions for the Christian person. 1. To crucify the flesh and 2. To choose to walk in step with the Spirit.

Galatians 5:24 Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.  25 If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit.

There are nine Christian virtues or fruits listed by Paul. The first three are related to our relationship with God, the second three to our relationships with each other, and the third three to our inward character.

They are in sharp contrast to the way of the flesh described in the verses immediately before.

Galatians 5:22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, and self-control.

The Christian life is one of conflict, a conflict between the way or walk of the Spirit and the way or walk of the flesh.

There is a civil war within ourselves. As Luther says 'Christians are not stocks and stones.'

As we walk in the Spirit, flesh becomes increasingly subdued, but the conflict remains and it is fierce and unremitting.

Paul lists four broad realms of the life where the sinful nature impacts us - sex, religion, society and drunkenness.

Galatians 5:16-21 I say, then, walk by the Spirit and you will certainly not carry out the desire of the flesh. 17 For the flesh desires what is against the Spirit, and the Spirit desires what is against the flesh; these are opposed to each other, so that you don’t do what you want. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. 19 Now the works of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, moral impurity, promiscuity, 20 idolatry, sorcery, hatreds, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambitions, dissensions, factions, 21 envy, drunkenness, carousing, and anything similar.