You'll be glad to know that the reading was short, but I'm going to preach on a single verse this morning—one verse for you. But I'm going to do that in its context. That verse is Galatians 6:10: "Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers."
I wonder if you're a fan of the Oscars, the BAFTAs, all the various awards that there are that look at what's come out in television and film and seek to award the very best. Did you know that there is a parody of that entire process, awarding films from an organisation called the Golden Raspberries—or the Razzie Awards for short?
So here are the current categories for which you could be nominated: you could be nominated for Worst Picture, Worst Director, Worst Actor, Worst Actress, Worst Supporting Actor, Worst Supporting Actress, Worst Screenplay, Worst Remake, Ripoff or Sequel, Worst Screen Combo, and then the Razzie Redeemer Award.
Now, the real test that you have a good sense of humour is if you are nominated for one of these awards but actually go to the dinner so that you are present in person to receive it—if you are successful in your nomination. The current reigning worst film is a film I've never even heard of, which is a good sign, because if it was a film that we all knew and loved, we'd feel the whole system had somehow broken down.
Galatians 6:10 is in danger of winning a kind of biblical Razzie Award—and that is this: Most Bland Verse. Galatians 6:10 is in danger of winning the award for the most bland verse in the Bible: "Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers." Or, roughly paraphrased, "Be nice to people whenever you can." Thank you, really.
Well, let's try and redeem that verse and demonstrate to the biblical Golden Raspberries that that would be the wrong verse to award that category to. It is far from bland.
The question we need to ask to find out why it's not bland is to ask: if it's so simple as that, why don't we do it? If it is as easy as just telling the world to be nice and kind, why does it not happen?
Every time a war breaks out somewhere, whether it be Gaza or Yemen or Ukraine, you get a load of commentators in the news and on social media all saying something like this: "I cannot believe that has happened. I thought we, as a human race, were past this. I thought we had grown up to the point where we knew that we talk to one another—we don't fight with guns. So why has this just happened? Come on, we're better than that, aren't we? We've progressed since 1939."
But then there's your own heart, where you look at yourself and you say, "I thought I was quite a nice and kind person. Why do I so often fail to be that in practice? Why do I end up hurting the people I love the most? Why do I see things that I could do something about, but I walk away as if I didn't care? What's wrong with me? Why do we not do it?"
Well, if Galatians 6:10 tells us how to get there, suddenly it's not bland, is it? It's an urgent need that we have that verse in our Bibles.
So what we're going to do this morning—we're going to unpack that verse, we're going to make sure we understand it correctly, and then we will see why it is that people are often not good, what needs to happen if we are to be those who do do good, but also what he means by doing good.
What does this verse actually say?
So let's start with asking what this verse actually says. And you will notice that verse 10 starts with the word therefore. Now, you know the mantra by now, do you not? When you see the word therefore in a Bible, you have to ask, "What it's there for?" Thank you.
So we’d better read verse 9, hadn't we? "Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up." So that's why we are to do good—because if we do, we will reap a harvest.
What harvest will we reap? We'd better read back again then.
Verse 8: "Whoever sows to please the flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life."
Ah—reap eternal life, reap a harvest. So the harvest we reap is eternal life, and that must mean, then, that the seed we sow is whatever pleases the Spirit. So doing good—verse 10—another way to put that: whatever pleases the Spirit.
So now you see there's this picture of a harvest, isn't it? If you want to harvest some food, you need to plant. Now, you also need rain, but that's another story—but you need to plant. But what you plant affects what you sow, and he's saying, if what you want to reap—the harvest you want—is eternal life, what needs to go in the ground is doing good, or whatever pleases the Spirit. Same thing.
But still—what does that mean in practice? It's all still a little bit vague for me. I still don't feel I've got it. Pleasing the Spirit—what’s that about?
Well, we're going to keep reading. Back again—we're going to accelerate, and we're going to keep going back. Back until we hit chapter 5:22, which says: "The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance (or you might have patience), kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control." That's what pleases the Spirit.
As opposed to the previous paragraph—what pleases the flesh—that was the contrast in Galatians 6:8. What pleases the flesh? "Sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies and..." (in case the list isn’t long enough for you) "and the like."
What pleases the flesh? What pleases the Spirit?
Let’s do good—what pleases the Spirit, not what pleases the flesh. Which means the Christian life will be a battleground. That's what it feels like to be a Christian—like you're living in a war. And here's why.
Ask the question: what would you like to do? What job would you like? Where would you like to live? What family arrangement would you like? What kind of food would you like to eat? How do you want to treat your next-door neighbour?
Just ask those questions. And sometimes—leaving aside the fact you're a Christian, okay, just as a human being—sometimes your answer to those questions will be good. But frequently, the answer to those questions is selfish and is indulgent.
But then here's the thing. If you're a Christian, God has given you his Spirit. And there's a load of stuff that God's Spirit wants as well.
Suddenly, the only question in play is not what do you want? What does God’s Spirit want?
But because God's Spirit lives in your heart, the Holy Spirit starts to make it so that you start to want the things that he wants. But it remains a battleground, because you still want this mixture of stuff.
So chapter 5, verse 16—Paul says: "So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh."
So we're reaching a bit of a kind of conclusion: what does he mean by doing good?
Doing good is all about love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Doing good is about living that way towards other people.
And then he says there is a harvest. That harvest is eternal life, which does not mean that the result is you earn favour with God. No. The Bible's really clear—in fact, Galatians is probably the clearest book in the Bible—that that is free. It is a gift that you have favour with God.
No, the reward is eternal life, because a life lived God's way is the fullest life, and as the Spirit moves Christians to live His way, there are eternal and lasting consequences for the things that you do. That's what he means by doing good in verse 10. Not bland, is it? It's a bit more than that.
Who do we do good to?
Who do we do good to? Let's have another look at verse 10: "As we have opportunity, let's do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of belever belies." So who do we do good to? All people, but especially the worldwide church family. I love the balance in this verse.
Okay, why especially them? Well, he tells you: they're family. Everyone knows this principle, don't they? If your family needs something, your family comes first. You can't help everybody in every way, but you can at least help your family.
But then he's talking about the family of believers — not just your nuclear family. This, therefore, is not just for people who are in a neat little arrangement with Mum, Dad, and two kids, and everything sweet and happy. No, this is for church family, and that is not just a local thing — it's a global thing, being in the family of believers.
But, as I say, enjoy the balance. "Look after them especially" is not the same thing as "look after them exclusively." He's explicit: do good to all people, but especially. So the worldwide church family has first call on our resources, but this is about having an expansive heart that reaches out to people and is not exclusive in the way we do that.
So now we've kind of got our bearings in Galatians 6:10, let's ask: why is it, then, that people do not do good things all the time? Why do we not do good things all the time?
And here are three reasons.
1. Because our hearts are broken
Number one is because our hearts are broken. Our hearts are broken — that is to say, human beings are broken. Sometimes we want to do good things, but fundamentally we are selfish people who indulge what we want to do. But then, when you become a Christian, God does heart surgery for you. He places His Spirit in your heart so that you start to want what He wants.
Now look again a little more closely at chapter 5, verse 19. Okay, so what goes out as the Spirit of God works in your heart is what he calls the acts of the flesh. What comes in its place? Not the acts of the Spirit — the acts of the flesh are not replaced by the acts of the Spirit — but (chapter 5:22) by the fruit of the Spirit.
Fruit grows on trees — you knew that, right? Fruit does not grow in morans; it grows on trees. And what tree you plant determines what fruit you get. It's not hard to understand. And having the Spirit in your heart means the fruit will grow — the fruit of the Spirit, like apples or pears on a tree.
Doing good is just simply the fruit that grows when God's Spirit lives in our hearts. So that's reason number one why we don't do good: our hearts are broken, and we need new hearts.
2. Because we’re weary
Number two: we don't do good because we're weary. Here's verse 10: "Let's not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we don't give up."
Here is the reality of life: you do good, and you don't see results. You invite a neighbour to come to church with you at Easter, and they don't come. You want to read the Bible one-to-one with a friend to see if they can find the Jesus who's so precious to you — and they're not interested. You reach out and get alongside somebody who is struggling in a spiral of debt, and you help them to reorganise things and to get back on their feet, but then they simply crash out, and it all goes horribly wrong again.
You go towards people in kindness, but yet the result you see is so frequently not the one you'd hoped for — and it just gets discouraging. Add to that another form of weariness, which is just that life is tiring. Lots of people today are just really tired, because life is hard. And weariness and discouragement are simply realities.
Now, in that world, how do you keep on doing good and not just get cynical, tired, and give up? How do you keep living the Spirit's way when life is that tiring?
Well, the answer comes in verse 10: "Don't become weary, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we don't give up." You will keep going if you are convinced it's worthwhile. Many things we put our energy into achieve nothing — it's like running to stand still. But whenever we act out of kindness, goodness, and patience, we can be sure, we can have conviction, that it will achieve something lasting. The harvest will come.
But the key is: at the proper time. Clare and I were talking about this before the service. It is God's timing that determines the results of what we do. But that it will achieve something is not in doubt. Don't get weary.
3. Because we lack opportunity
And number three — reason number three — because we lack opportunity. I love the beginning of verse 10: "Therefore, as we have opportunity..." We are not being beaten up in this verse for failing to do good in ways that are not available to us.
So, have you not fed every homeless person in Scarborough this week? That's fine — you haven't got the connections to make it happen, you haven't got the money. Paul is not having a go at failing to give money we don't have, failing to spend time we don't have, and failing to expend energy that we don't have.
It's not like working for the company trying to sell fibre broadband to Scarborough, where you are expected to knock on 70 doors a day, or work for the courier company where you're given 200 parcels to deliver every day, and if you run out of time, you just start chucking it over people's hedges.
Does not work. It's not "There's a certain number of good deeds you must do a day." No — this is saying, God has given you a new heart. God's given you His Spirit to make us into people who will seize the opportunities that we do have.
I love Galatians 5:13: "You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love." As a Christian, you're free. No one's saying to you, "You must do this, you must do this, you must do this." God says to you, "You're free." Now the question is: what will you do with your freedom? Use your freedom well.
So today's link with Compassion — not here to make anyone feel guilty: "Oh dear, all this stuff I'm not doing, I can't do." No. You want an opportunity to do good? Here is an opportunity to do good. And if that lines up with areas of opportunity in your life — in other dimensions: time, finance, whatever — if those opportunities converge, we are presenting you this morning with an opportunity to do good.
And it's wider than the UK — that's nice. And yet it's still kind of focused on the family of believers, and yet will reap a harvest wider than just those individuals.
How to be good
So how do we become those who do good? How does that become us?
Number one: become a Christian, if you are not already a Christian. And every week there are folk here still trying to work out if this is for them. If that's you — become a Christian. I hope the lesson has been clear by now: you cannot do this on your own. You cannot change yourself to be a different person unless God gives you the heart transformation you need.
But then, when you become a Christian, here's what happens: God gives you His Spirit. And the Spirit is the Spirit of Jesus. Jesus's Spirit comes and lives in your heart, and He works His fruit.
This means you have the Spirit of the one who did not grow weary of doing good. Jesus is the ultimate person who is full of love, full of joy, full of peace, full of patience, full of gentleness, and full of kindness — no one like Him.
Then there's Gethsemane. "Don't grow weary in doing good"? Tell you what — the disciples grew so weary they fell asleep in the prayer meeting. Jesus didn't get weary. He stayed awake. He prayed — including praying for them, including praying for you that night — and He sweat blood for us.
And then, as He went to the cross, He did not flinch. He did not grow weary of doing good in the face of hardship, but He went through with it so that He could reap a harvest at the proper time — a harvest of eternal life. A harvest of your eternal life.
It is His Spirit that comes and lives in you to make you a person like Him. And then, having had that Spirit come in you and transform you, you do what Jesus would do. You take the opportunities that God sends. Maybe you get weary at times — we all do. You use the energy and the resources that God does give, knowing that there's a harvest in store.