Galatians 6:9 - Homiletics

Encouragement to perseverance in well-doing.

The apostle enlarges the compass of his exhortation so as to include well-doing in general. Consider—

I. WELL - DOING IS THE DUTY , THE DIGNITY , THE DESTINY , OF BELIEVERS .

1 . "We are , as God ' s workmanship , created unto good works. " ( Ephesians 2:10 .)

2 . It is " good and profitable to men " that believers should be careful to maintain good works. These works are to be "maintained for necessary uses" ( Titus 3:8 , Titus 3:14 ).

3 . They are to follow the example of Christ , " who went about every day doing good " ( Acts 10:38 ), and who so pointedly declared that it was lawful to do well on the sabbath day ( Matthew 12:12 ).

II. THE IMPORTANCE OF PERSEVERANCE IN WELL - DOING . "Be not weary in well-doing." The same counsel he gives to the Thessalonians ( 2 Thessalonians 3:13 ). He does not hint that the Galatians were not already doing good; he merely suggests that they must not weary in it. How much depends on perseverance!

Therefore we ought to be open to new opportunities, to new occasions, to new objects, of usefulness.

III. THE CAUSES OF WEARINESS IN WELL - DOING . They are numerous and complex in their operation.

1 . The friction of life in a world with ungodly tendencies.

2 . The ingratitude and unworthiness of those we befriend.

3 . We are cooled by the coldness of other men.

4 . Our patience is exhausted by the number seeking our help.

5 . There is so much to be done that it seems useless to begin in the hope of overtaking everything.

6 . There is so much opposition to the best plans of goodness.

7 . Physical fatigue has a tendency to generate moral weariness.

IV. ENCOURAGEMENT TO PERSEVERANCE . Our work will not be resultless. "In due season we shall reap, if we faint not."

1 . There is a regular time for the harvest. "The harvest is the end of the world." The sowing goes on all through our lives. We must not be disheartened because the interval appears long. "Thou shalt be recompensed at the resurrection of the just." If you do not find the results of Christian service on earth, you will find them in heaven. "Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain" ( James 5:7 ).

2 . The reaping will surely come. It will come partly in this world, in the blessing of God upon all we possess and all we do, in the gratitude and prayers of those we help, and in the secret satisfaction which a course of well-doing comes into the heart of the believer. But our full reward will be at the resurrection of the just, and will be proportional to the nature and extent of our labours. Therefore believers ought to be "steadfast, unmovable, ever abounding in the work of the Lord, seeing that our labour shall not be in vain in the Lord" ( 1 Corinthians 15:58 ).