Fellowship with Teachers in Giving

Transcript

GR 2113
02/25/2018
Fellowship with Teachers in Giving
Galatians 6:6
Gil Rugh

We are in Galatians chapter 6 together, Galatians and the 6th chapter in your Bibles. Paul is in his closing section of the book of Galatians that really started with chapter 5, verse 1 where he has been dealing with what we might call practical concerns in light of the doctrinal truths he has presented earlier.

God’s provision for us as His children redeemed by His grace through faith now to live our lives basically in the same way by grace through faith. We don’t go back to the Mosaic Law. It was not a way of salvation. It is not God’s plan for our sanctification rather He has provided for us the Spirit.

The basic conflict going on that keeps us from the perfection we will ultimately realize, you see in verse 17 of chapter 5. “The flesh sets its desire against the Spirit and the Spirit against the flesh. These are in opposition to one another so you may not do the things that you please.” And really, the power of sin over us, the flesh, what we are apart from the work of the Spirit in our lives, that power has been broken but the presence of the flesh, the old man, the old nature, talking about the same thing, has not been removed. So there is that conflict there as at times the old man, the flesh would desire to reassert its influence, its control, its domination in our lives but we are those who are to walk by the Spirit, verse 16: “Walk by the Spirit and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh.” We have been made new. We don’t have to obey the flesh any longer, the old man. We can live as those made new, even as some of the songs that we have just sung have emphasized. “Walk by the Spirit. You will not carry out the desire of the flesh.”

Down in verse 18: “If you are led by the Spirit you are not under the law.” That walking by the Spirit is being led by the Spirit. You note that contrast, you are not under the Mosaic Law. That is not the way. Well now I will go back and try to live out the requirements of the Mosaic Law. No, we now allow the Spirit of God to lead us, to control us. We walk in His power, in His enablement.

In verse 25 of chapter 5: “If we live by the Spirit let us walk by the Spirit.” We noted that word ‘walk’ is a different one that we just looked at previously in verse 16 but the same idea, keeping in step with the Spirit, in line with the Spirit as He directs and guides our steps.

How amazing is that? Why would anyone want to go back to the law? We have the Spirit of God dwelling in us. The One who has made us new and now is there to be the enabling power that we might live lives that are in accord with the will of God for us and He drew that contrast with the works of the flesh in verses 19 through 21, in contrast with the fruit of the Spirit. So it is evident and manifest. That doesn’t mean a believer never sins.

So he started chapter 6 by talking about what we do when a believer does stumble and allow the flesh to manifest itself. Then those who are living by the Spirit step up to help that person, get them back in right order, restore them.

We noted a word used of mending fishing nets in the Gospel. It would have been used outside the Bible for fixing a broken arm, you restore it, you mend it, you put it back together so it can be functional again and then he said how that is to be done and we need to be careful that we function as we should as we are helping that other person. We are to bear one another’s burdens. That is partly involved in restoring. We step up to be used in one another’s lives; we are brethren as he started out this chapter with chapter 6, verse 1, the first word we have there.

And then the warning: “If someone thinks himself to be something when he is nothing he deceives himself.” And we noted that the Bible is full of warnings about self-conceit. We don’t want that to characterize us.

Come back to Romans 12 as a refresher. You know one of the deceptive things of the flesh is that it trips us up because while we are aware of the sin perhaps going on over here in someone else, we get tripped up. That is where he said we have got to be careful that we don’t get tempted ourselves. In Romans chapter 12 and verse 3: “For the grace given to me I say to everyone among you to not think more highly of themselves than he ought to think.” We have to be careful; even when, as we talked about, we are restoring a believer who has stumbled. I don’t want to become self-conceited and think “Boy, I am glad I am not like that person.” And we begin to think down on another person and elevate ourselves as we compare ourselves with them. We are to think properly of ourselves.

Back to Galatians chapter 6, verse 4: “Each one must examine his own work.” And the order in this is a little different than we have it in our translation. “His own work, each one must examine,” put to the test. The emphasis is on our own work. We start with ourselves. I am good at examining you. I become an expert in examining others but the Scripture says I must examine myself. Again here is where I can get tripped up and then I begin to think of myself as something when I am nothing because I compare myself to you and I elevate myself by comparing myself, especially if you stumbled and I didn’t. Well, obviously I am more godly, a stronger Christian and I may be a more mature Christian. I may not be, but wherever I am in my Christian life, I am not above stumbling myself. So “Each one must examine his own work.”

And that word ‘examine’ remember put it to the test. Pass it through the fire so to speak. Test it. How am I doing? Am I being what God would want me to be in all areas of my life? So even when these opportunities come up to be involved in restoring someone else, it causes me to shine a light on myself. I tend to want to shine a brighter light on them and thus deceive myself into thinking of myself as better than I am. Lord, I may not be guilty in that area, but how am I doing in my walk with You where I am accountable before You?

So we examine ourselves and then “each one will have reason for boasting in regard to himself alone not in regard to another.” In other words my boasting using that word, my exaltation, my glorying is not in that I am doing better than you or I haven’t failed like you have or it is some kind of comparison. It is in my thanking God for His grace that has so worked in my life that I am privileged to be used by Him in ways that honor Him. How amazing is that that each of us unworthy sinners, redeemed by His grace, now are being used as instruments to honor Him.

Turn over to Philippians, chapter 2. Paul talks about himself, the end of verse 12, “Work out your salvation with fear and trembling. It is God who is at work in you both to will and to work for His good pleasure. Do all things without grumbling and disputing so that you will prove yourselves to be blameless and innocent. Children of God above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation among whom you appear as lights in the world.”

You see that emphasis on self. I can become an expert. If you grumble, I can point that out quickly. If I grumble, well I don’t know that I would call it grumbling. I excuse myself. I have reason. I mean, look what they did. Look what happened. You know we justify ourselves while we condemn others and thus we sit in judgment of others instead in sitting in judgment of ourselves.

So we are to prove ourselves blameless, innocent, children of God. “Holding fast the Word of life,” verse 16. Note, “So that in the day of Christ I will have reason to glory,” to boast “because I did not run in vain or toil in vain.” And that is not that self-glory but glorying because of what He did. Lord you used me to accomplish Your purposes. You used me as an instrument to shine forth, making You known. You used me in the lives of struggling believers. You used me to help grow the body Lord, a testimony of Your grace. We are what we are by the grace of God as Paul told the Corinthians. “I am what I am by the grace of God.” We lose perspective on that. We become experts in examining the other person. So that is what he is talking about as we are moving through Galatians here.

We want to glory in what God is doing in our lives. Not a selfish glory but do we ever cease to be amazed that God uses us, each of us individually?

Come back to Romans 15, Romans chapter 15. Paul talks again about his ministry. Verse 17: “Therefore, in Christ Jesus I have found reason for boasting in things pertaining to God.” You see the kind of context here when he talks about boasting. It is not that self-boasting, “Look what I have done, look how great I am” but it is “in Christ Jesus I have found reason for boasting in things pertaining to God. For I will not presume to speak of anything except” (note this, what I have accomplished? No) “what Christ has accomplished through me.” That is what I celebrate. I am an instrument He has used. Does it get any more wonderful than that?

Paul could have found reason to complain about a lot of things. He points out error when it is there, sin when it is there, corrections that need to be but he doesn’t elevate himself, that you see how much more spiritual I am than you are? That is not the point. What does he glory in? That God used me to bring the Gospel to you. God used me for your good. That is what I boast about. That’s what I celebrate.

Come back to Galatians chapter 6. That is what Paul is talking about. Then he reminds them, “Each one will bear his own load;” that each one. When we stand before the Bema Seat of Christ each one will bear his own load and we note that word load here is a different one than the word ‘burden’ up at the beginning of the chapter. We do bear one another’s burdens but ultimately when I stand before the Bema Seat I will be accountable for me. I won’t be there telling the Lord, “Well look how much better I did than so and so and Lord they stumbled in that. I didn’t stumble like that. Lord I wasn’t perfect but I was better than…” That won’t be going on. “How did you do with the grace I gave to you?” “Well I ---“ “Did you put yourself to the test?” “I was too busy putting other people to the test, Lord. Look, I kept a record of all the things where I saw failures. I got it right here.” “Each one will bear his own load. We will give an account there for ourselves.”

Come back to Romans 14. I could have told you to stay there but Romans is easy to get back to. Romans 14 has to deal with the Romans. They have become experts in evaluating other believers even in things where there was liberty but look what he reminds them of in Romans 14, verse 10. “And you, why do you judge your brother or you again, why do you regard your brother with contempt for we will all stand before the judgment seat of God. For it is written, as I live says the Lord every knee will bow to Me, every tongue will give praise to God.” So now, note what he says, “So then each one of us will give an account of himself to God. Therefore let us not judge one another anymore but rather determine this. Not to put an obstacle or stumbling block.” There are other passages but we won’t go to those.

You see the flavor that he is going here and Paul hasn’t been reluctant to point out error in the Galatian churches, the false gospel that had come in, the readiness of the believers in the churches that he had established to follow this false teaching. They get entangled with the Mosaic Law. That has got to be corrected but by the same token we want to be careful that we don’t begin to divide in the churches in another way. We want to help those who stumble but we don’t want to have the ‘us’ and ‘them.’

We had this in church history for a while. Our family earlier in their Christian life were part of a movement that believed in sinless perfection. The trouble was, every time we had a meeting you had to go back to the altar to get re-perfected because if you were honest you had stumbled through the week and this idea there is some kind of super spiritual believer who lives the abiding Christian life in contrast to those who don’t live the abiding Christian life and the higher life movement that was perhaps a little more prevalent in past history of the church but it still comes up in our thinking. Paul doesn’t want the church at Galatia to slide into that. While correcting one problem they create another and then become proud that they don’t have the problem that they corrected. They have just replaced it with another.

Come back to Galatians. So he comes to verse 6 and in verse 6 as you read commentaries on this and some of you have taught Galatians. It seems like all of a sudden he is talking about paying the preacher and that is a good idea but how does that fit Galatians chapter 6? You know he says the one who is taught the Word is to share all good things with the one who teaches him. And there is a conjunction at the beginning of this. The later editions of the New American Standard Bible, which I am using and many of you are using, have dropped it. The earlier additions of the New American Standard included it in the translation. It could be translated ‘and or but.’ The Greek conjunction deh but it is not the strong contrast and so it is sometimes translated ‘and.’ “And to do be deceived (or but do not be deceived) but the one who is taught the Word” and then the following verse. Or “and the one who is taught the Word is to share all good things.”

I think it fits Luther said and I will read you Luther. He always told you what was on his mind. “I must say I do not find much pleasure in explaining these verses. I am made to appear as if I am speaking for my own benefit. If a minister preaches on money he is likely to be accused of covetousness.” Then we will see when Paul didn’t take money he was accused of not being worth money. That is why he didn’t get paid. You can’t win when people who were looking for something. At this stage of my life in ministry I feel more comfortable talking about pay since you have paid me well over many years and that is a good testimony for the church and Paul is concerned.

In all of this the Galatians must be careful that they don’t back off of what is important, the Word of God and the ministry of the Word of God and the ministry of God’s truth and the presence of error even makes more important the ministry of God’s truth.

So verse 6 says: “the one who is taught the Word is to share all good things with the one who teaches him.” Share and that word ‘share.’ I mentioned it earlier in the evening. We go through these phases in the church. Koinonia was a big thing a number of years ago when you were supposed to have koinonia groups and they were fellowship groups. The word means fellowship, sharing in common. That is fellowship so that was the big thing. The church ought to emphasize koinonia and there were studies on all the uses of koinonia in its various forms in the New Testament. It is used a number of times in the New Testament for sharing material things with one another. That is a way we share together.

What he will be talking about here is finances. The one who is taught the Word is to share all good things, talking about material things here, provision with the one who teaches him and even at this early stage of church history there was a recognition of the place of teaching the Word and the support of those who taught the Word by those who were being taught. Not everybody is gifted and called to be a teacher. And not everybody who teaches has to be paid but that doesn’t mean that no one should be paid in the teaching. We have had that in the teaching of the church that there should be no one paid when everybody is not paid and you know we just find various ways. We seem to want to swing from one side that is not Biblical to another side that is not Biblical so Paul is putting things in perspective here. There ought to be a sharing.

Come back to Romans chapter 12 and you might as well leave something in Romans if you have a hard time getting to Romans because who knows how often we will come here before the evening is over. Romans chapter 12 uses this word ‘sharing.’ I will just call it koinonia whether it is a verb or a noun at least you will know the word that we are using. In chapter 12, verse 13: “Contributing to the needs of the saints.” And that word ‘contributing,’ really sharing in the needs of the saints. So it is not just for teaching. He is going to emphasize doing that with teaching but it is a word that can be used in any kind of helping in giving. That is a way we become partakers with another person. We help share in their need, we fellowship with them. We have something in common which is the basic foundational meaning of the word, to have in common. That is what we do when sharing. So giving, helping.

Look over in chapter 15 of Romans. What the Romans had done and Paul talks about what he wants them to do, what the Greeks have done. Macedonia in verse 26: “Macedonia and Achaia have been pleased to make a contribution for the poor among the saints in Jerusalem.” There is our word again, a sharing. What they did was took an offering so they could help needy believers in another situation. So this word can be commonly used in that sense and we will see it. It is in all good things.

We will come back here to Galatians chapter 6. “The one who is taught the Word is to share all good things.” He is talking about material possessions here, material things. Finances but it could be other things. They could help with food if there were those who needed that. Remember in Acts chapter 6 the first deacons because they had to help the widows to see that the food that is necessary for them so basically material things that are needed.

So the one who is being taught the Word in Galatians 6 is to share in the material needs of the teacher. Now this is the right of those who bring the Word but it’s not necessary for everyone who teaches to be supported this way. It is not necessary for everyone who teaches to accept money for his teaching. We ought to cover that.

Come back to I Corinthians chapter 9. Paul says sometimes it is a better thing not to accept money. Particularly in a context where your motives may be misunderstood and so in I Corinthians chapter 9 let’s just pick up the broader picture here. Paul talks about his rights in the ministry as one who has been appointed and gifted by God to have a ministry of God’s truth he had a number of rights. Verse 5: “Do we not have a right to take along a believing wife even as the rest of the apostles and brothers of the Lord and Cephas.” It mentions Peter because he is so prominent a figure. In other words Paul said, “I have a right to be married and I have a right if the situation was such my wife could travel with me.” “Or only Barnabas and I have that right.”

In other words some people thought that since Paul didn’t avail himself of certain rights God had given him as a minister of the Gospel, that meant he didn’t have the right. Well, he had the right, he just chose not to avail himself of it. And then he applies that. Verse 7: “Who at any time serves as a soldier” and it connects it to “do we not have a right to refrain from working?” “Who at any time serves as a soldier at his own expense?” “He plants a vineyard and doesn’t eat of the fruit. Tends a flock, doesn’t benefit. I am not speaking of these things according to human judgment am I? Doesn’t the law say this?” And the law says you “don’t muzzle the ox while he is threshing” and that is not primarily because God was into the animal rights movement. He was establishing a principle and the application of it was for our sake. “The plowman ought to plow and hope. The thresher should thresh and hope,” verse 10. “If we sowed spiritual things in you, is it too much if we reap material things from you?” That is just a basic Biblical principle. I have the right and that shouldn’t surprise you. Verse 12: “If others share this right over you do we not the more. Nevertheless we did not use this right.”

So you see Paul establishes it is a right for those who devote themselves to the ministry of God’s Word to be supported by those who benefit from that ministry. But we didn’t use this right. Why? “We endure all things so that we will cause no hindrance to the Gospel of Christ.” And then he gives another example that those who ministered at the temple God had made provision. All the Israelites had to give a portion to support the priesthood in Israel.

Verse 14 – here is the principle laid down. “So also the Lord directed those who proclaimed the Gospel to get their living from the Gospel.” This is at the early beginning of church history, the New Testament. That is what God had established. Those who proclaim the Gospel, who are the ministers of truth should be supported in that ministry. “But I have used none of these things and I am not writing these things so that it will be done so in my case. It would be better for me to die than have anyone make my boast my empty one. If I preach the Gospel I have nothing to boast of.” So I am not bragging about what I did because I am obligated. There is nothing for me to boast about because God has obligated me. Whether I get supported by it or not I still have to do it. I have to do it for free. He has given me the right to be paid, but even if I don’t get paid, I couldn’t say I am not doing it, because He has placed me under obligation. “Woe is me if I don’t preach the Gospel.” I have done it so that it might be free. I don’t use my rights.

I mean all the problems he had at Corinth. Can you imagine if he came into Corinth and said “I came to tell you about salvation in Christ and He died to pay the penalty for your sin? If you trust Him you can have life. Now let’s take an offering.” What would people say? Another one of those shysters that come through town fleecing the people, charging you to hear their message.

So it was Paul’s practice when carrying the Gospel to a new area, he did not accept money from people. Even the new believers, the church at Corinth was established by him but he didn’t take money from them. So that when he left town because remember Paul didn’t stay there for 20, 25 years. He preached the Word. When people got saved he stayed there for relatively short periods of time and then moved on. He didn’t want that after he left for them to be able to say, “You know why he was really here? He took a lot of money out of Corinth didn’t he?” So that he wasn’t subject. I mean it is a problem at Corinth since he didn’t avail himself of the right so now some people were saying “You know why he didn’t take any money?” He wasn’t genuine and he didn’t deserve it anyway.

You just can’t win with the people who are going to criticize you but you can do what is right so that the criticisms are not genuine and that is what Paul did. Verse 19: “Though I am free from all men I have made myself a slave to all.” So I provide the Gospel at no cost.

Come over to 2 Thessalonians. We won’t look at a lot of examples but just one more, 2 Thessalonians chapter 3 and Paul did the same thing as Thessalonica. This seems to be the pattern when he went into a new area. Now after a church had been in existence for some time he would be willing to accept money. We will see that. But look what he says about the Thessalonians, the churches that he had established in Thessalonica. Verse 7 of 2 Thessalonians 3: “For you yourselves know how you ought to follow our example because we did not act in an undisciplined manner among you nor did we eat anyone’s bread without paying for it but with labor and hardship we kept working night and day so we would not be a burden to any of you. Not because we do not have the right to this.”

So again he wants to make clear. Before God we have the right to do this but we wanted to set a pattern and an example and part of the problem was some from Thessalonica were slacking off and not working hard yet thought that the church ought to care for them and Paul established a principle. If you don’t work, you don’t eat. There are people leading undisciplined lives and that is not Biblical and they shouldn’t be supported and I gave you an example.

We know from Acts, Paul was gifted in leather working, called tent making, but it was probably broader than that, leather working. So he did that and he would come to a town and he would work because he didn’t have enough money being given from churches that had been well established because he is the trail blazer so he just went out and got a job and worked and carried the Gospel, so the principles.

Come back to Galatians 6. Some of these principles have been noted by other commentators and I have jotted some of what they have observed. Good to observe that there was formal instruction that was going on at this early time. You know some people, we get these family movements that seem to flourish from time to time, and people get the idea and it is not even an Old Testament idea under the law, because under the law the priest was the teacher and people came to be taught by him. Maybe I guess they go to Job and some of these. So family, and we wouldn’t want anyone else teaching our kids but us, and you have to decide what you do with your family, but the Biblical motto is spiritual gifts and we benefit from the functioning of the body.

So there was formal instruction going on by gifted teachers in the body and they functioned in coordination with the other gifts. So there were recognized gifted teachers even in the early church and the rest were taught by them. Remember James warned in James chapter 3, “Don’t many of you become teachers.” We don’t want to get the idea everybody ought to be a teacher. James said just the opposite under the direction of the Spirit. We shouldn’t have many teachers. That is a gift. It is the prime gift.

Come back to I Corinthians chapter 12. I say this without trying to promote myself. You have honored me over the years greatly in many ways and supported me in this ministry and that is a manifestation of Biblical activity.

Paul has talked about the gifts in chapter 12 of I Corinthians, verse 27: “Now you are Christ’s body, individually members of it” and he has talked about this. Come back to verses 4-7. “There is a variety of gifts, the same Spirit, the variety of effects, the same God. There is a variety of ministries, the same Lord.” Verse 7: “To each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit.” And we looked at each one on a previous occasion so we are Christ’s body. He is addressing the Corinthians. There is a universal church but the emphasis in the New Testament is the manifestation of the universal church, it is the local church and the church at Corinth started out in Chapter 1 Paul told them, they had all the gifts necessary to function. So each local church is complete in itself. It is not just a piece. It is the body of Christ in that place. So now you are Christ’s body, he is telling the Corinthians individually members of it. So every part in this local church.

God has appointed in the local church first apostles, second prophets and third teachers. Now you note these first three gifts are all gifts primarily associated with the communication of God’s truth and apostles and prophets were gifts that also involved receiving direct revelation from God so that we could have the Word of God completed with our New Testament. They are no longer gifts operative so the third gift is the gift now that remains present in the church because there is no new revelation. Teachers, so he has called them, first, second, third; then the other gifts. Now that is not belittling the other gifts. He has already stressed God put each and every gift in the body as He determined. We didn’t pick our gift. God gifted us when He put us into the body.

Chapter 12, verse 13 of I Corinthians said: “By one Spirit we were all baptized into one body.” Well if He put us into the body we had to have a place in the body. You wouldn’t have a body if you just piled everybody in there. He put each one in so as we come together as a local church, each person has been placed in it as God appointed them. There were order of gifts. My gift, it would not have the priority as Paul’s apostolic gift or as a prophet. Some preachers call themselves prophets but that is not accurate. Prophets as we are familiar received direct revelation. They weren’t limited to speaking just what they directly received but that was a vital part of their ministry.

Teachers take what was revealed to the apostles and prophets as well as the rest of God’s revelation and are gifted to explain it to God’s people. Now everyone of you who are believers have the Holy Spirit and I have been gifted by God to explain God’s Word and it is His intention that the Word of God become clearer and more understandable to you as I take the time to study it and prepare it and communicate it in the power of the Spirit so the Spirit gives you clearer understanding to it. It is not just me but in the body there are other teachers that teach the Word in different settings, different contexts but number wise they would be few in number compared to other gifts. So there is the recognition of the place of these gifts and there is a priority.

2 Timothy, chapter 2, Paul told Timothy that you teach faithful men who will be able to teach others also. Foundational to the ministry of the church is the ministry of truth. I will talk about this at a future study. You know we need to constantly remind us of what the church is. It is the pillar and support of the truth and when that ministry gets weakened with its serious in depth emphasis on the truth the church progressively weakens and pretty soon is blended into the world.

Different movements, commentators …. yes, this is what the church ought to be. This is what the church ought to be. I was on some church sites just looking in preparation for what I want to do in the future and they list out why their church exists. I am saying, “What, where did this come from?” They are concentrating on this and this and this. I am only looking at what is called evangelical churches not just limited to our community. Don’t think I am attacking everybody here but it is about the truth.

So that is what Paul doesn’t want the Galatian churches in all this conflict and that, don’t lose your perspective, the ministry of truth going on there in the churches. You have to be faithful and fellowshipping with those teachers in your giving so they can devote themselves to that.

The blessings that I had since the beginning of my ministry here is that the body has supported me in that ministry and encouraged me in it and encouraged me to devote my time to study the Word and to prepare it and other teachers aren’t so appointed by God. They work other jobs to support themselves and they teach also. My role is to provide the foundation and framework of the doctrine of this church for everyone and then it is taught out as well by other teachers.

Come to Titus chapter 1 and we will look at a couple of other steps here. The responsibility of the elders here, as you are aware, elders, pastors, teachers go together. Again some can be supported, some may not be. In Titus chapter 1 verse 9 we talk about elders are “overseers.” They are not to be in it for the money. The end of verse 7 says, “Not fond of sordid gain.” But they have to be those, verse 9: “Holding fast the faithful Word which is in accordance with the teaching. That they be able both to exhort in sound doctrine and to refute those who contradict.” It becomes key, paid or unpaid. This is what is required of those who have the formal position of elders in the church. They are, if you will, the anchor, the bulwark.

It amazes me how easily people will just run away from the elders. So God was talking to Himself here and in other passages of the Word. This is crucial that the leadership that God has provided for the church stay strong because “there are many rebellious men, empty talkers” and on it goes. They must be opposed. Whole families are getting upset. And it is the responsibility of the elders to anchor that ministry, the importance of God’s truth.

Come back to Galatians 6. The content of what’s taught is the Word of God. The church subtly moves away from that. Well we don’t get into those more serious things.

Several years ago I was visiting with a person I enjoyed some contact with. He hadn’t been part of this church but had been in an evangelical church all of his life and I have to say I was dumbfounded when we talked about things how little he knew. Now maybe he wasn’t paying attention but I didn’t get that idea he was that kind of person. But it’s like you have learned certain of the basic things, the Gospel and some of those things, you just sort of move on but God said every word is His Word. He didn’t say anything that we don’t need to apply ourselves with diligence.

You know in I Timothy 5:17 it says that “We are to work hard, elders especially those who work hard at preaching and teaching are to be supported.” Now I have to be careful. The denominations, many, many years our family was in a denominational church. We were new believers, my parents and I had become believers by then and they had found a Bible teaching church by going on Sunday nights when our denominational church didn’t have a service. Getting exposed to the truth of the Word, they realized they weren’t getting that where we were, so they were going to move. They had the pastor over and it is amazing what certain things you remember. The pastor came and he understood the Gospel and he claimed to be a believer and he said “I know what you are saying, I know what has happened to you and I understand why you are leaving” but he said, “I can’t leave because I am too close to retirement and everything depends on my staying true to this denomination.” How sad it was. He had become a hireling. So while we would support men to preach the truth, the men who preach the truth must be careful they don’t become hirelings.

And to that extent I am responsible to you in my ministry but I am not here to do your bidding and I trust you understand what I mean when I say that. The church in that sense doesn’t decide what I do. When I came, one of the things that I told the board that was in existence at that time, what I would require since I was new and it was a young church, that we will agree, we will go wherever the Word takes us. The Word will be our authority. I wasn’t coming here to be hired. There were certain things I had to commit to do obviously becoming a pastor but I am not for hire and you understand that and then go into the ministry, must go in and I don’t alter the doctrine or what I preach or not preach in light of how you think about it. How the board would have the power to remove me but you want men who will be committed to the Word as well.

So the church, to remain true, can’t be putting its finger in the air saying where is the world today? We want to be relevant. We want to fit the culture. We come with God’s truth. This is to be a center of truth and because of the appreciation of truth and the importance of it there are certain men who will be supported in the ministry of the truth. And we praise God and I praise God for the many faithful godly men who are ministering truth and are not paid in our congregation and the time I have been given and permitted and blessed to devote myself to the study of the Word, the preparation of it, trying to be aware of things that might lead our church astray, working with a board that is committed to the truth and to stand for the truth whatever the cost, blesses us as a church.

So what Paul has to say here is crucial for the Galatians. The fact that error has come in, there are false teachers, doesn’t change the need for the presentation of the truth. Support those who are teaching you the truth, teaching you apostolic doctrine that I brought to you when I brought the Gospel to you. Those are the men to be supported so the church can be strong. A simple word. Those being taught, incidentally, those being taught translates the Greek word where we get the word catechism from and catequemens were those being taught so those teaching the Word are supported by those being taught the Word and the Spirit of God takes it so the church grows, the church stays true. It grows spiritually. Sometimes it grows numerically. Sometimes it shrinks numerically. Whatever is going on, whatever must not change, if you come you will hear the truth and that is what the church is, the pillar and support of the truth. The thing you ask, “Am I being taught the truth?” “Are we really focusing on the truth?” “Am I growing in the truth?” And then we have responsibility to apply it to our lives.

Let’s pray together. Thank You Lord for the riches of Your Word. Lord the simple clarity of Your Word and we are mindful that we can easily wander from the simplicity of the truth. We get distracted. We even become proud and in our pride we wander from you. We want to be faithful to You. We want to be faithful with Your truth and to Your truth. We want the truth that we study to be implemented in our lives. We want to apply it in every area of our lives. We want to put our lives to the test of the truth as we examine ourselves not in comparison to someone else but how are we doing individually in light of Your truth, in light of the beauty of Your character so revealed in Your truth. May we be a church that is faithful. Lord may we as individuals be faithful with this truth and to this truth each day of the week as we serve You we pray in Christ’s name, amen.