Hello, my name is Matt Whitman. This is the 10-Minute Bible Hour Podcast. This is season five, episode 250 something. Oh, that's a lot. And we are nearing the end of this season on the book of Galatians. On this podcast, we pick a book of the Bible and we go right through it. And it takes as long as it dang well takes because it's a real-time podcast with an actual person who would like to understand the Bible. And so sometimes I get real hung up on certain parts and we're just there for a long time. And other times I see something in a book of the Bible, and I think to myself, that's interesting. And it raises questions and it makes me think about other parts of the Bible. And I'm going to go chase that down and I'm going to take all my friends with me. And so if you're here for the first time, you pretty much get the podcast now. That's it. Except there's a guy named Jeff, and he edits it and he plays fun music at the beginning and the end. And sometimes the way he edits and plays music is kind of like him ribbing me or even making jokes at my expense. And I totally accept because all Jeff does is make it better. There now, you're totally up to speed. We're at the end of the book of Galatians. This has been a letter that was written out of a circumstance, a pressure. There's this brand new little church in the middle of modern-day Turkey, Asia Minor, they called it back then. And the church was going pretty well. Paul apparently had a hand in founding this church or this little network of churches. But then some of Paul's old buddies from back when the Apostle Paul was a part of the really legalistic Jewish crowd, those guys came up and they did kind of a weird hybrid of Christianity and Judaism after Paul had left Galatia and they screwed up the church. And people quickly reverted to their baser instincts and started fighting and metaphorically backbiting and metaphorically devouring each other. And the church turned all mean, like in one of those sci-fi shows or thrillers where some sort of mind contagion gets introduced into an otherwise peaceable space. Then everybody just goes back to savagery. And so it just things went crazy. Paul finds out about it and he writes this letter, Galatians, to get things straightened out. For the first two-thirds of the book, he addresses the theological question of how do you have right standing with God? And he makes the case that there's only one way. It's faith in Christ. God did the work. That's it. There's no other way to have right standing with God. There's too big a gap between people and God. What we have as humans is a problem that is built into us because of our flesh. That's the term he uses to describe just all the things that are weak about us, naughty and nice things, but also just the fact that we get old and we have bodies and we're not perfect. The flesh cannot build itself up to immortality. The imperfect cannot make itself perfect through willpower and force. And the Judaizers, the agitators who came in and messed with the church, it turns out their argument was, well, maybe the flesh could make us right with God if we just really obeyed the law of the Old Testament and maybe even obeyed some bonus laws that we make up. Some of you had the song in your head right there. And you bonus law. Yeah, it happened to me too. It's perfectly normative. A good hook is a good hook. And so Paul comes in, he's like, no, no, no, no, no. There's not two ways to God. There's one way to right standing with God, and it is through faith in Christ. God does the work full stop. This other thing is a sham. And if you go back to that, you're going back, Paul says, to metaphorical slavery, being in bondage to rules and being in bondage to the flesh, your physical body, and the consequences of being fully tethered to the fate of these vessels that we live in. And so Paul sorts through a whole bunch of really important big picture Bible, Christian, Jesus theology stuff about the biggest question that being, how do you have right standing with God? How do you go from the state in which we are? And we all know things are off. How do we go from that to right standing with God? Well, he tackles that question. He clears up a misconception. It's quick, it's masterful, it's punchy. And in the last third of the book, he directs his attention to the confused Christians who he's now corrected theologically. And he deals with very, you know, much more practical stuff. Like, okay, so that, you know, what the agitators came and did, that's the bad thing. Don't fall for that anymore. But anytime you criticize something or say, don't do that, you should always follow it up if you're in that position, with a constructive proposal where you say, Well, do do this. Yeah, I caught it. There was a doo-doo there, and I'm not going to apologize for it. Sometimes you just like sometimes conversationally, do happens next to do, and then there's it's just doo-doo. What are you going to do? Do you know what I mean? Well, his constructive proposal is walking by the spirit. He's like, Hey, you're not some sort of outsider who's trying to earn favor with God. If you have faith in Christ, you're not some slave or some person, you know, clawing at the door trying to get in. You're a son, a daughter, an heir, an agent of the great king. You're a participant in his household and all of the endeavors that the king has said are going to be the endeavors of the household. It's a position of tremendous honor, it's a tremendous opportunity. And his instruction is live like it. Also, Christians are indwelt by the Holy Spirit. That's God. And as we cooperate with or submit to, or to use his language, walk in the spirit, stuff changes in the flesh. It manifests in how we live and what's going on. And so, Paul, toward the end here, is like, let me tell you something that isn't walking in the spirit and that is born out of the flesh and its corruption and weakness. That would be the way you treat each other. It's real fleshy, it's gross, it's bad. You guys need to knock it off with that stuff. You're gonna end up destroying each other. Instead, you need to live by the spirit, and spirit stuff will happen. And if you are led by the spirit, you're not under the law. Now, some people at this point might have been like, oh, okay, so he's like, do whatever. Well, no, because then Paul goes on to say, the acts of the flesh, the sinful nature, the ugly stuff are obvious. Like, obviously, don't do these horrible things. And then he lists a bunch of horrible things that they had been doing. And then he pivots around, he says, But the fruit of the spirit, that is the stuff that is just an outgrowth, it can't help but happen when you walk in the spirit, is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Against such things, there is no law. So then he wraps up the book, assuming and really offering very little theological clarification as to why he assumes it, because to him it's just self-evident. He wraps up the book giving a bunch of practical advice, practical teachings to these Christians for how to get back on track and how to walk in the spirit and how to live like Christians. Do this stuff, don't do this stuff. And he challenges them to be very thoughtful about how they are investing their lives, their bodies, the flesh that they can't keep. They should be very thoughtful about sowing things that are of the spirit, sowing things, like not like sowing like pants or a patch or something. I mean, sowing like I'm making the gesture here, but you can't see it, like sowing seed. Like you're gonna sow this kind of seed, and then it's gonna grow up, whatever seed it was, that kind of plant is gonna grow up, and then that's what you're gonna reap. So it's like that metaphor is one about thinking forward and having a long time horizon and being like, what I do right now, it kind of matters for the long haul, and it's gonna matter down the road. I should think about that. And in particular, Paul spells that out right here in Galatians 6, 7 through however far I decide to read here. And this is really getting into the land, the plane kind of stuff. Like, guys, hear me on this. We've dealt with the weird interlopers and all the weird theology, crazy stuff that happened. You know your children of God, your sons, your daughters, your heirs, your agents of the kingdom. You know you're supposed to walk by the spirit. So here's one more round of practical stuff. Ready? Don't be deceived. God can't be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. The one who sows to please his flesh, or the sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction. But the one who sows to please the spirit, from the spirit will reap eternal life. Let's not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we'll reap a harvest if we don't give up. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers. Now, Paul has clearly said that admission to this family of faith, the family of believers, the family of God, the household of God. He's clearly said that the move from slave to son, daughter, agent, heir of the king happens not by our own effort. He says it again, how many pages? One, two pages later in my Bible, in the book of Ephesians, when he says that it's by grace that you're saved, so that nobody can boast. It's by God that you have right standing by God. It is not by the flesh. And at least initially it seems like the Galatians got that right, and that was swell and everything until they got mixed up in something. And now there's confusion about what it looks like after you're in the family. Well, what do you do? Do we have to do anything? Do we even have to obey God? Can we just get in and be like, there, I guess everything's taken care of. I ran a transaction with God. Can't believe you fell for that. Now I'll just be whatever I want and live however I want. And uh, got one over on God. I'm good to go for all of eternity. Well, Paul is clearly saying, no, there's fruit that should be growing. If that's an actual thing, and if you're actually the son or daughter of this king, an agent and heir of this king, there's stuff that you would expect to manifest there. And he's just very directly spelling it out in this little passage that I just read. Invest in things that are king to me. Invest in things that are part of the kingdom of God, that are in the service of building the household of your father, of God himself. If you don't know how to do it, hey, walk in step with the spirit. The spirit is helping you with that stuff. If you don't know how to look like a Christian, walk in the spirit. The fruit will grow, it'll happen. The point is, guys, paraphrasing Paul a lot here, you need to be thinking in terms of sowing kingdom stuff, investing kingdomly, and you will reap a harvest of that. And frankly, the the whole thing will reap a harvest. You get to participate in glorifying God and building this beautiful thing. It's an opportunity. So I'm sure there were some people who were running this little transactional equation in their brain and kind of thinking this little scheme thing that I was just hypothetizing a second ago. And Paul is clearly trying to get that straightened out, and he does so pretty succinctly, being like, hey, don't become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we'll reap a harvest if we don't give up. So the point is this obedience to God, this living like sons, daughters, heirs, agents of the king, is something that just is the Christian life because this is who you are now. Your life is that identity. Now you are entwelt by God Himself, the Holy Spirit. Faith in Christ comes first, and what comes next is the stuff that points to your new identity, and that should be flowing. And we should not grow weary in doing good stuff, in doing kingdom-y stuff, in doing stuff that is redemptive and that points to the glory of God. Final note, I got in the last little bit of the Galatian stickers that I was still waiting on. If you want to be a part of the mailing for the commemorative, hey, high five, we did a thing, it took a year, and this is a season of our lives, not just a season of the podcast. Galatian sticker mailing, you can jump in still. Anybody who's supporting at any level on any platform, we're gonna send you one of these Galatian stickers. And there's a handful of you who've gone way above and beyond, you know who you are. You're gonna get cool hologram limited edition versions of these Galatian stickers. They all look real cool. I'm excited to get these in the mail soon. Usually takes me a, I don't know, a week or so to get that all packaged up and ready to go, but those will start coming your way real quick. So make sure your addresses are up to date. But we're not done yet. More Galationing tomorrow. I'm Matt. This is the 10 Minute Bible Hour Podcast. Let's do this again soon.