Life in the Spirit, true and proper worship, and deep spirituality are things that are not isolated experiences divorced from community, but practical works of love. The true spiritual life is a life of service, like giving money, time, and energy given to help others.
Hearing this call to do good, there is always the danger that we will go away thinking that we need to earn God’s favour through our good works. Even with everything else we have learned thus far in Galatians, we will be tempted to hear that message. To tell ourselves that Christianity is just like every other religion, be a good person, and get eternal life. The covenant of works is in our bones, it is the default way in which we all relate to God.
Now, certainly, the encouragement to do good is loud and clear in our passage. After all, we are in a section of Paul’s letter where we are focusing on the fruit of the Spirit, and so it is right for us to spend lots of time on application. But we must remember as we do so, that the source of these fruit is Jesus Christ. He is the one that has won the right for us to dwell eternally in God’s presence. He is the one that came to render the perfect obedience which God requires of those made in his image. He is the one who bore the judgement that we deserve for our sins, for our failure to do good, for the selfish ways we have spent God’s resources. Christ is the one who makes us right with God, he is our hope for eternal life, not our sowing, not our obedience, and not our actions. They are the consequences of our union with Jesus, consequences of his electing love.
As Christians, we do not pursue good to advance our own name. We do not pursue good to feel better about ourselves. We pursue what is good for the sake of Christ, in order to bring glory to our God as he is praised for the changes he has worked in his people, and to win our neighbour for the kingdom when they see and ask about the Spirit wrought love in our lives. Our aim is noble: the glory of Christ our King. Our aim is good: the well-being of our neighbour.
But still, there are many regular discouragements. When we work hard, spending a lot of time with someone only for our best efforts to go to waste. When we open our homes but there is no reciprocation. When we do not reap the rewards that we might expect in this life. When we are persecuted for doing what is right. It is easy to give up, to grow weary of doing good.
To that end we must remember that our reward is not for now, but for the future. As citizens of the new creation, we are not focused on blessings in the present, but blessings when Christ returns in glory. We are not in the business of doing good for earthly benefit, but doing good because we belong to Christ, because we want to see him honoured, because we are confident and amazed that our feeble works will be a testimony to his love when he comes again in glory.
6 Let the one who is taught the word share all good things with the one who teaches.