A couple weeks ago, I took our two youngest girls to library "Storytime". At "Storytime" the kids sing songs, hear stories and every once in a while, do a "special activity" together. This particular day, the special activity was planting seeds.
So, after the stories and songs were over, the Storytime teacher put a folded up table in the middle of the floor and gave each child a little paper cup filled with dirt. As she went to get the seeds to give out, I looked over at Anna and realize that she was chewing. So I'm thinking, "Hmmmm that's weird. I don't remember giving her any food...?" Then I looked closer and realized that there was dirt all around the outside of her mouth. Soon after that, she started making a "What in the world did you feed me?" face and I'm like "My child just ate dirt." (The poor kid! She's two years old and we just sat her at a TABLE and then handed her a CUP of something! How was she not supposed to think it was food?).
Anyway, all the other moms were looking at me with their polite mom smiles, but you know they were thinking, "I'm so glad that wasn't my kid!". If she wasn't my third kid, I would have probably run over there and tried to get the dirt out of her mouth, but instead I just laughed and motioned to her to wipe her mouth on her sleeve - which she did, except she used her sister's sleeve instead. Awesome.
As believers in Jesus one of our greatest joys and thrills is when we see someone else meet Jesus and accept Him into their lives. It's amazing. But many times after that happens, we just throw all this "stuff" at them and expect them to know what to do with it. And time after time those people, even those who have known Jesus for a while, stumble. They get tripped up in life and the ways of this world and they screw up. Sometimes they just take a nibble of the dirt and sometimes they shove a whole handful of mess down their own throats. And we don't know how to react or what we should do and unfortunately, we end up doing what we've been talking about in this series - we JUDGE them.
This is the third and final week of our judging series. The first week, Tim talked about WHY we judge and how the biggest reason we judge is that we don't truly know a person's story. Every person has a story, every story matters to God and therefore every story should matter to me! Last week Pastor George was here and he talked being "Pirate Christians" who seek out the "NONS" - whoever they are - and instead of judging them, welcome them into God's family.
As we close out this series, we're going to visit the book of Galatians. But first I need to give you a little bit of background. This letter is from a guy named Paul, who traveled around and started and worked with lots of different churches. It was written to a group of churches in an area called "Galatia". The reason Paul wrote this letter is really important to understand. The key verses are found in chapter 2, verse 16: "We know that a person is made right with God BY FAITH in Jesus Christ, not by obeying the law" and chapter 3, verse 26: "For you are all children of God THROUGH FAITH in Christ Jesus."
We are saved when we believe, we are saved because of that faith we choose to have in Jesus. This is the message of the gospel - the message Paul was had preached to the Galatians in the first place. But false teachers had infiltrated the Galatian churches and were convincing the believers there that if you REALLY wanted to be saved, you actually had to follow certain laws and rules.
Paul wrote this letter to the churches to clear things up and to communicate the pure truth of the gospel message. After doing this, He went on to explain that yes, your life should and will change after you receive Christ into your life, BUT that change comes through the Holy Spirit working in our lives, NOT by human effort to follow rules and laws.
Near the end of his letter, the last two verses of chapter 5, Paul talks about the real-life consequences of this false teaching in the church. Galatians 5:25-26 "Since we are living by the Spirit, let us follow the Spirit’s leading in every part of our lives. Let us not become conceited, or provoke one another, or be jealous of one another."
This version of this verse actually splits it up into three separate things, but it would be better seen as a chain reaction process. As believers we are growing and we can see how the Spirit has worked in our lives. But every once in a while, a little bit of pride sneaks in and we start taking the credit for how “good” we are now. We become "conceited" and starting to spiritually "show off". This, in turn, "provokes" others and we turn our faith into some sort of contest.
And the result of a contest is that there are always winners and losers. From one side, the result is jealousy - "I'll never be a good Christian like that!" From the other side, the result is judging - "Why can't she just get it together and start really living for Jesus? I've been able to do it just fine!" or "Why can't he just stop that sin and live a holy life like me?"
After stating the danger, Paul moves on in chapter 6 to give the remedy for this problem. This is the practical part where he says, "Now that I've told you the truth and cleared this up, this is what life in the church should look like."
Galatians 6:1-10: "Dear brothers and sisters, if another believer is overcome by some sin, you who are godly should gently and humbly help that person back onto the right path. And be careful not to fall into the same temptation yourself. Share each other’s burdens, and in this way obey the law of Christ. If you think you are too important to help someone, you are only fooling yourself. You are not that important. Pay careful attention to your own work, for then you will get the satisfaction of a job well done, and you won’t need to compare yourself to anyone else. For we are each responsible for our own conduct. Those who are taught the word of God should provide for their teachers, sharing all good things with them. Don’t be misled—you cannot mock the justice of God. You will always harvest what you plant. Those who live only to satisfy their own sinful nature will harvest decay and death from that sinful nature. But those who live to please the Spirit will harvest everlasting life from the Spirit. So let’s not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t give up. Therefore, whenever we have the opportunity, we should do good to everyone—especially to those in the family of faith."
Have you have ever been responsible for the care of a plant? One of the things that you realize as you get "old" like me is that there are things you're good at and things you're not - and I am NOT good at plants. I'm not exaggerating when I say that if a plant is left in my care for longer than a day or so, it will die. I cannot will myself to remember to water it and then when I do remember, I feel so bad that I overwater it and drown it. I think plants just like fall over and die when they see me coming at this point!
Unfortunately for me, Jesus, Paul and many other writers in the Bible just loved to use planting, gardening and farming analogies and illustrations in their writing! This is one of those passages.
The key verse for this message is verse 9: "So let’s not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t give up." The end result of a church - a group of believers - is a harvest of blessing. Meaning lots and lots and lots of people coming to know Jesus and lots and lots and lots of people growing closer to Him. That's the goal, that's the harvest!
So, even though I can't grow a plant to safe my life, I do really love flowers because I like to take pictures of them. One of my favorites is the sunflower. I just love how they are so huge and tall and bright. I know this sounds a little silly, but I want you to think right now of our youth group being full of sunflowers. A harvest of sunflowers.
Paul starts off this section talking about those unfortunate believers, which is ALL of us at some point or another, who purposely or inadvertently have shoved some dirt in their mouth. They've screwed up and made a mistake that has hurt them or someone else.
So he says this: "Dear brothers and sisters, if another believer is overcome by some sin, you who are godly should gently and humbly help that person back onto the right path."
In our world today and in this church and this Community, we call this ACCOUNTABILITY, which just means holding each other as believers to the commitment we have made to following Jesus with our lives. It means doing life with someone and then, when you see them being "overcome by sin", helping them back onto the right path.
Accountability can actually be seen as a form of judging, but this kind of judging is GOOD and necessary to the harvest. If we want to reap the harvest, Paul says, it starts here.
We're going to start at the bottom of the sunflower with the roots. Plants need roots to hold them up and hold them in the ground when wind, rain or some other outside force tries to knock them over. The taller and wider the plant, the deeper and wider the roots need to be in order to hold it down.
Accountability must be rooted in LOVE. It's so tempting and so easy to see another believer trip up and go straight to our friends and gossip about it. You know, out of our "concern" for that person. But that's not concern. That's not love. That's provoking. That's contest. This verse implies that we should GO TO them, not discuss it with five other people first to make sure they all agree with us.
If you see another believer (and you are sure they are a believer) being overcome by sin, you must choose to go to them face to face - THAT is love. And you've gotta throw aside any motive in your heart to make them feel bad or for you to be the one who is "right". You have to go to them because you truly care about them. The roots, the LOVE, must be deep enough and wide enough to withstand the winds and the storms.
If you do the research on sunflowers, one of the things you will learn is that the healthier and better cultivated the soil is, the deeper and wider the roots will grow.
The soil for accountability is RELATIONSHIP. Ideally, this is a one-on-one relationship where both people have agreed to hold each other accountable. IF you don't know someone's story, IF you are not invested in a friendship with this person, even if you say you have all the love in the world, that love will only be shallow. Verse 2 says, "Share each other’s burdens, and in this way obey the law of Christ." If you want to help this sunflower grow, you have put the TIME and ENERGY in to getting to know this person and their story. Even if it's hard. Even if it's messy. Even if it's a burden.
Moving up the sunflower, we get to HOW this works. Just like all plants, sunflowers need water, air and sunlight to grow. And just like I have learned in my plant care (or lack thereof) experiences, too much of a good thing can actually be a bad thing.
"You who are godly should gently and humbly help that person back onto the right path."
Gently. Humbly.
Sharing each other's burdens means that instead of: "You're doing this wrong and you need to change", it's more like: "How can I help you?". If a sunflower is struggling or not growing properly, one of the things a gardener might do is temporarily tie a piece of wood or bamboo to the sunflower to hold it up.
Share each other's burdens. "How can I help?"
Verse 3 continues, "If you think you are too important to help someone, you are only fooling yourself. You are not that important." Are you willing to be that piece of bamboo for someone? Are you willing to be that friend who holds them up when they are struggling? Even if it's hard. Even if it's awkward. Even if it requires more strength than you think you have.
Sunflowers are known for their tendency to face the sun. As a sunflower grows, it learns to point itself in the direction where it receives the most light during the day. It learns this - it's a process. But how awesome is that image of a harvest of sunflowers with their faces pointed to the light? A harvest of believers learning to keep their eyes on Jesus. THAT is the goal!
Your goal as a gardener is not to create a perfect, blemish-free, strong plant. There are too many outside forces that aren't in your control. Your goal is simply to put it in a good location, give it what it needs to grow, and give it extra support if necessary. Your goal as a friend and accountability partner is not to create a perfect, spotless, version of your friend that lives up to your standards. Your goal is to welcome them and keep them in a good place. And then gently restore them and be someone they can lean on so that they will turn their face to the Son - to Jesus, because He is the true source of life!
"So let’s not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t give up. Therefore, whenever we have the opportunity, we should do good to everyone—especially to those in the family of faith."
Having an accountability partner may be one of the most important things you can ever be involved in that will help you grow in your faith. I don't know about you, but I want someone to judge me! I want someone who knows me well enough and cares about me enough to be willing to look at my life and have the guts to tell me face to face when I'm screwing up!
Here are a few really practical tips on this:
1) MAKE IT FORMAL
This doesn't just happen. You have to ask for it! You can't just assume that your best friend is going to just "become" this for you. Your best friend may be perfect, but you still need to ask. You've gotta make it formal! And you may even need to be "set up" with someone through Tim or I. That's okay, it may seem weird but you just don't know what God can do!
2) MAKE IT LEVEL
Your accountability partner needs to be a believer who has accepted Christ and who is your age-ish. It's great to have a deeper relationship with a youth leader, parent or other adult mentor, but this accountability thing needs to be someone who is a peer to you because it needs to be a two-way street. And it should be obvious that if you want someone to hold you accountable to your relationship with Christ that they also need to have a relationship with Christ.
3) MAKE A COMMITMENT
It's not like a marriage where once you find someone, you're signed on for life. But it does need to be a one-on-one or very small group thing. You might have other people who speak into your life, but an accountability partner is someone you have made a commitment to spending time with. And a commitment means that even if it's hard or even if you're going through a rough time, you are still responsible for reaching out to and checking in with this person.
4) MAKE IT REAL
It's just flat out not gonna work if you don't actually open up and share about your life. It's not about sharing your entire life story and every detail of your deepest darkest sins, but it is about allowing someone to really know you. And in order for that to happen, you've gotta be open and honest about what's going on in your life.
5) MAKE IT WHAT YOU MAKE IT
Schedules get busy and life gets hectic! It's not about becoming best friends and then doing everything together - it can be as simple as a text at a certain time each night that says "How was your day?". Or maybe you share a verse that you're memorizing or you learn some verses together. It can look however you agree to make it look.
In the end, it's all about those roots of love and the humility that's required to say - "I can't do this alone and I need more than just coming here and hearing some nice inspirational words every Sunday. I need someone to know me. I need someone to notice the dirt on my face and challenge me and maybe even be the sleeve I wipe my mess onto. I need someone to be committed to me. I need someone to point me toward the Son."
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