Week ?
Galatians 6:6-10Review Questions:
1. In one or two words, what is the overall focus of Galatians 5:16-6:10? What has Paul been focusing on in this part of the letter.
(A: "Spirit filled Life" or "doing good" or "now what"....)
2. Why did Paul shift to this topic in this part of his letter?
(a: the Judaizers were saying that if you only need faith for salvation instead of works, you will live an immoral life. Paul said that actually relying on works for salvation leads to sinfulness (e.g. provoking and envying each other) but relying on faith for salvation actually leads to a changed behavior and leads you to actually fulfilling the law. (e.g. 5:23))
Today's passage:
3. vs. 6 What kind of instruction is Paul referring to?
(a: "in the word" that is teaching and preaching Although you English teachers also deserved to get paid by your students, Paul is referring to Christians who benefit by the teaching and preaching ministry of those God has gifted for that task.)
4. What kind of things should Christians share with their instructors?
(a: all good things... What does that mean? Implication... is that is one part/reason for tithing...)
5. Do you understand why churches take tithes and offerings? What is a tithe? What is an offering? As part of doing good works, what should Christians give to the church?
(a: money, help, meet needs)
Read 2 Corinthians 9:5-8
6. If you consider both of these passages, what do you think it means that "a man reaps what he sows?"
(a: specifically ... if you give to the work of the church, you will benefit from the work of the church... This is the context of why Christians should tithe.)
7. There is a more general application:
vs. 8 the way you act... if it is to please your sinful nature, you will get the result/reward of a sinful nature .... destruction...
the way you act... if it is to please the Spirit... the reward of the Spirit is eternal life....
8. In the context... what kind of "destruction" is Paul talking about?
(a: he sets it up as opposites... eternal life vs. destruction.... that is life with God vs. life under God's wrath in hell forever.)
9. Does this mean that a Christian can go to hell if he sins?
(look at Gal. 5:24 to help you answer ....)
(a: no.... Christians have the Spirit at work in them... if we have the Spirit in us, we will exhibit the fruit of the Spirit... Gal. 5:22-24... so although there is a remnant of our sinfulness, we live by the Spirit.)
10. (vs. 9) Why do Christians become weary of doing good?
Share your own experiences...
What is God's promise to encourage you to continue doing good?
(in the proper time.... reap a harvest... we will see a harvest for what we have "sowed" as far as doing good.)
11. (vs. 10) Can Christians meet every need in the world?
(a: no... we do not alway have the opportunities... and also we do not have the resources to meet every need...)
What priority has the Bible set to guide us in deciding how to "do good"?
(a: "especially to those who belong to the family of believers...")
That is... some "good works" are between you and God only... but other "good works" are specifically related to you meeting other people's needs... and God using you as an agent to minister to others. In this kind of "doing good" we should set the highest priority on those in the church....
12. From this priority, practically speaking, if you can give a meal to one needy family... and you are faced with the choice that you can feed a member of the church or someone outside the church, what should you do?
(a: feed the member in the church)
remember... it is not that we are saying we love other people less than people in our own group....
it is saying that God has brought us together as a group, partly for the purpose of taking care of each others needs. It is wrong to neglect that calling. think of it this way... If you have a NonGovernment Aid organization... and the people from one town in Iraq are designated to go to one specific humanitarian aid camp and another town has been assigned to another camp... and the first camp only has enough resources for the one town... if the other town came... it would be a problem... some people would go hungry...
This is not saying we should not also take care of the poor whether they are believers or not. We should... as we have resources... but we should place the priority on taking care of those in our midst. Most churches today, admittedly, are not mis-allocating resources (i.e. taking care of the wrong people with limited resources.) .... but have "opportunity" to help all those in the church and then also still have resources to help those outside the church. They should not use this verse as an excuse to be lazy....
But the Bible says "the poor you will always have with you"... and we cannot always meet all needs... so God gives us a way to prioritize here.
God will be responsible for taking care of the needs that are outside our opportunity or reach.