Galatians 6:1-10,14-18
July 6, 2025
In 1953, after serving two years in U.S. Army, Ernie Banks was signed by the Chicago Cubs to be their starting shortstop. He played for the Cubs for 19 years, setting many records, and was nicknamed “Mr. Cub” when he retired for his excellent career and longevity with the Cubs. He is considered by many to be the greatest player in Cubs history, but he never made it to the World Series. While he was usually the best player on the team for most of his career, unfortunately the teams he played on were usually bad. In fact, he still holds the record for most games played with a single team without ever playing in a World Series. For years Banks deeply regretted never having the opportunity to play in a World Series, once saying in an interview, “It’s a hole in my life.”
In 1985, in only his second season in the National Football League, Dan Marino made it to the Super Bowl as the quarterback of the Miami Dolphins. He played a great game, but his team lost to the San Francisco 49ers. He was disappointed, but not devastated. After all, he was only 23 years old and the Dolphins were an excellent team, so he thought surely he would play in the Super Bowl again. Dan Marino played another 15 years in the NFL, retiring in 1999, and holds many records, but he never made it back to the Super Bowl. Even today he says that if he would have realized that 1985 was going to be his only appearance in a Super Bowl, he would have appreciated it more and made the most of that opportunity.
We all have opportunities that we have missed in our lives. Opportunities at school, at work, and in relationships with others. God gives us many opportunities to serve Him and each other every day and He wants us to make the most of these opportunities. In our second lesson for today from Galatians, Paul writes that he wants us to remember two things when it comes to these opportunities that God gives to us. First, give credit where credit is due. Think for a moment how most athletes react when they score or do something well in their sport. It doesn’t matter if they are professional athletes, college athletes, high school, or elementary age students, whenever a person playing a sport scores they usually celebrate. They might put their hands in the air, they will shout or cheer, they might pound their chest, or jump around in a way that says, “Look at me. Look what I’ve done. I’m number one.” We all have that in us, don’t we? That desire to hear praise from others, to hear them say that we are good, smart, or funny. And there’s a word for that, it’s called pride. Many times when we compare ourselves to others, our pride gets in the way and tells us that we are better than others or we’re not as bad as others.
Paul, however, reminds us how to keep our pride in check. He says in verses 3-4, “If anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself. But let each one test his own work, and then his reason to boast will be in himself alone and not in his neighbor.” God doesn’t want us comparing ourselves with other people. He wants us to take an honest look at ourselves and if we find something to be proud of in what we have done, that’s fine. But we must remember, though, that when we do look at ourselves honestly, when we test our own actions - what we have done in our lives, based on the way God says we should live, we will discover that we actually have nothing to be proud of.
This text tells us that we need to use the opportunities God gives us to bear each other’s burdens, care for one another, and do good to everyone. But we don’t always do that. Think of when someone dies how we look back and admit that we should have taken advantage of the time we had together. The bottom line is we all have years of not looking out for other people in the way God wanted us to; we all have years of selfishness and busyness, and years of angry words or sinful thoughts. When we look in the mirror of God’s Word, which shows us our sins, what we really see are dirty, underserving sinners who have no reason to feel superior to others.
But we can take pride in something. Paul tells us in verse 14, “But far be if from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.” We can take pride in Jesus. We can boast about Jesus, who has written our names in the book of life in heaven, but not because of anything we’ve done. Not because we have lived a good life. Not even because of our faith. Eternal life with Christ is ours, because Jesus willingly took on the burden and suffered the punishment of our sins on the cross. So let’s make the most of every opportunity to give credit to Jesus for everything we take pride in and praise Him for freeing us from the punishment of our sins.
The second thing Paul wants us to remember when it comes to the opportunities God gives to us is to watch out for people around us, especially our brothers and sisters who belong to the family of believers. But this is actually somewhat difficult to do, because we live in a world where we are all very private. Now that might seem odd when you consider the social media we have today, in which people are constantly posting or telling others what they think or what they are doing, but the bottom line is we still do not want people to know our business. In fact, if someone does attempt to get involved in our business we often think they are nosey. Many of you may remember the days when your landline phone rang or when the doorbell rang and everyone rushed to see who it was who was calling or at the door. Now when people call or come to our homes we don’t move until we can verify who it is or why they have come, and still we may not answer. Today you can live next to someone for years and not know anything about them, let alone even talk to them.
But if we look at our neighbors, and everyone around us as people who Jesus died for and as people who Jesus really wants in heaven, it should change the way we look at them and it should motivate us to reach out to them. It doesn’t matter if they are old or young, nice or mean, good or bad, if God wants them in heaven then maybe we should too. And this may require personal sacrifices or discomfort. Jesus demonstrated this time and time again in His life. For example, consider when He washed His disciples’ feet before their last supper together. Jesus and His disciples had been walking all day on dusty roads probably wearing sandals. Can you imagine how dirty their feet must have been? Can you imagine the smell of 12 pairs of feet on 12 men in one room? Do you think Jesus enjoyed doing that lowly task? Probably not, but He did it to demonstrate that He came not to be served, but to serve. Therefore, shouldn’t we have the same mindset?
God never called us to be comfortable, and this idea of comfort and serving leads us back to the first thing Paul said in this text when it comes to caring for one another. In verse 1 Paul says, “If anyone is caught in any sin, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness.” This is not easy. We don’t like the idea that we are accountable to others. If you have ever confronted someone with their sins, you have probably heard comments like, “Mind your own business, I’m not bothering anyone” or “Let he who is without sin cast the first stone.” It’s very easy to take the approach, “I’m not going to get involved with other people’s lives; what they do is their business.” But when we do that we are not acting in love. We get involved with each other because we love one another and we want all people to be in a right relationship with God.
Today, in our Gospel lesson, Jesus sent 72 people out to tell others about God’s love for them, to bear their burdens, to confront them with their sins, and to forgive them. And we are sent out from this place each week with the same responsibilities, to be involved in the lives of people. In fact, in about 2 weeks we have 17 high school students and 5 adult chaperones from our church who will be traveling to New Orleans to join 20,000 other students from around the world at the National Youth Gathering. And I believe God is sending them there to get involved with each other and to put their faith into action – in the Superdome, the hotel, and wherever they go. I pray they will not get to the end of their trip and we will not get to the end of our career here on earth and look back at many missed opportunities. Let us make the most of every opportunity to serve God and each other, and to give our loving God all of the glory, honor, and credit that He is due.
