A farmer sows seeds into the ground with the harvest in mind. Tilling, sowing, watering, and weeding are all difficult tasks, but in the end, they yield a crop. Like a farmer focuses on the harvest, we set our eyes upon our eternal rest and reward in Christ. Indeed, such a focus will help us to remember that our time of doing good in this life is short

Let the one who is taught the word share all good things with the one who teaches. Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up. So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith.
Galatians 6:6-10 ESV

Although all that remained of Jerusalem was ruins, the 50,000 returning Jews rejoiced to be home. Because of their rampant and unrepentant sin, Yahweh had brought His judgment upon the kingdom of Judah through the hands of the Babylonians. Both Jerusalem and the temple were thoroughly destroyed and all but the very poorest were taken away into captivity. But though they often forgot and forsook Him, God did not forget nor forsake His people. After seventy years, the Babylonians were conquered by the Persians, and just as Isaiah had predicted, King Cyrus did good to the people of God by ordering that all who were willing should return to Jerusalem. In fact, he commanded them to rebuild the temple. He even provided them with the material to do so; of course, with the expectation that they would pray favorably for him.

Indeed, at the laying of the foundation of the temple, Ezra records that the people both wept and shouted for joy, so was the mixture of emotions among the people.

But before they could finish the temple, adversaries rose up against them to hinder their progress, and sadly, they succeeded. For fifteen years, the foundation stood empty, as the Jews went about rebuilding the city and their own homes. After a decade and a half, Yahweh sent the prophet Haggai with a message:

Consider your ways. You have sown much, and harvested little. You eat, but you never have enough; you drink, but you never have your fill. You clothe yourselves, but no one is warm. And he who earns wages does so to put them into a bag with holes.

Whether the Jews realized it or not, nothing was working properly for them. All of life had become even more of an uphill climb than usual, but they seem not to have noticed. Indeed, God goes on in verse 11 to say that He had brought a drought upon their land. In verse 9, the LORD says why He did all of this:

You looked for much, and behold, it came to little. And when you brought it home, I blew it away. Why? Because of my house that lies in ruins, while each of you busies himself with his own house.

Because the temple was the place of God’s presence in their midst, their neglect of the temple revealed their apathy toward God Himself. They were more concerned with pursuing personal wealth than they were with worshiping Yahweh. They did not honor the God who is good and does good, and thus found themselves disconnected from His good blessings. Jesus expressed this principle whenever He said, “Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you” (Matthew 6:33).

The natural desire of our flesh is to put ourselves first, but those who are governed by the Spirit seek the glory of God and the good of others as their first priority. And that is the encouragement that Paul gives in the passage before us, for we are to do good to everyone, especially those who are of the household of faith.

Share All Good Things—Verse 6

As I noted last week, the first ten verses of chapter six form a collective unit of practically showing how Christians are to walk in the Spirit. Verses 1-5 focused upon the war against our sin, and our duty to help one another over the course of that battle, particular whenever our sin seems to gain the upper hand. Now with verses 6-10, Paul turns his attention toward more general good works, especially within the church. This slight change of thought is indicated in the Greek with the word δε, which the ESV leaves untranslated except for starting a new paragraph.

First, Paul writes: Let the one who is taught the word share all good things with the one who teaches. Here the apostle reminds the Galatians of their duty to support those who teach them the Word of God. Of course, even though Paul sometimes voluntarily refused to be compensated for his ministerial work, he staunchly defended the principle. For example, in 1 Corinthians 9:8-12, Paul even uses similar language to our present passage:

Do I say these things on human authority? Does not the Law say the same? For it is written in the Law of Moses, “You shall not muzzle an ox when it treads out the grain.” Is it for oxen that God is concerned? Does he not certainly speak for our sake? It was written for our sake, because the plowman should plow in hope and the thresher thresh in hope of sharing in the crop. If we have sown spiritual things among you, is it too much if we reap material things from you? If others share this rightful claim on you, do not we even more?

Nevertheless, we have not made use of this right, but we endure anything rather than put an obstacle in the way of the gospel of Christ. Do you not know that those who are employed in the temple service get their food from the temple, and those who serve at the altar share in the sacrificial offerings? In the same way, the Lord commanded that those who proclaim the gospel should get their living by the gospel.

Or in Romans 15:27, Paul speaks of the Christians in Macedonia and Achaia giving to help the Christians in Jerusalem, and he explains: “For if the Gentiles have come to share in their spiritual blessings, they ought also to be of service to them in material blessings.”

The same principle is at work in verse 6. The one who is taught the word has received a spiritual blessing; therefore, he is obliged to share his material blessings with the one who teaches. Frank Thielman notes that “Students or their families typically supported their teachers in antiquity, and Paul was in favor of church leaders’ receiving support from their churches, so there is nothing surprising about this instruction” (644). Indeed, they were very likely sharing their goods with Judaizers, for I very much doubt that they were foregoing their compensation as Paul and other apostles had done. Instead, as Calvin notes, “it is one of the tricks of Satan to defraud godly ministers of support, that the Church may be deprived of such ministers” (177).

And sadly, that is a rather successful trick throughout church history. The 1689 Baptist Confession gives us a wise aim, saying:

The work of pastors is constantly to give attention to the service of Christ, in his churches, in the ministry of the Word and in prayer, watching out for their souls, as those who must give an account to him. It is therefore incumbent  on the churches to whom they minister, not only to give them all due respect, but also to impart to them a share of all their good things according to their ability. This is so that they may have a comfortable income without becoming entangled in secular concerns and may also be capable of exercising hospitality toward others. This is required both by the law of nature and by the express order of our Lord Jesus, who has ordained that those who preach the gospel should live from the gospel. (26:10)

Of course, this principle can be and certainly has been abused. But I think Christopher Ash gives wise counsel:

So here’s the paradox. If pastors stand on their rights, press for good pay and conditions, and insist on being treated with respect, we are wise to be cautious and not to give them too readily what they ask. But if they don’t—if, like Paul, they will “put up with anything” to bring us the gospel of Christ—then we will want to pour ourselves out in giving them generous honour.

This requires a twofold prizing of God’s Word. First, the pastor must prize the Scriptures and make teaching them his chief responsibility. Phillip Ryken writes:

Teaching the Word–this is as simple and as clear a job description of the gospel ministry as there is. These days ministers are tempted to perform many other jobs. They have become salesmen, businessmen, musicians, entertainers, comedians, janitors… anything and everything except preachers. But a true minister is nothing more and nothing less than a minister of the Word. The center of any gospel ministry must be the exposition of Holy Scripture. (253)

Indeed, we see that shift in the tendency now to say the pastor’s office rather than the pastor’s study.

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