AUGUST 28, 2025 – MOCKING

READ: Gal. 6:7–8: …whatever a man sows, that he will also reap…

“Do not be deceived; God is not mocked!” These are words addressed to the churches of Jesus Christ in Galatia during Paul’s time. Words meant for us too! As an apostle of Christ,

Paul finds it necessary to use such sharp words. “Do not be deceived” — a warning that hits hard. Of course, false teaching should not be tolerated in the church, and indeed, there is reason to continually warn against it, as church history clearly shows. The letter to the Galatians has numerous examples of this.

But the question here is: is this text only about false doctrine? If we read it in connection with the preceding verses, it is broader. The teaching of the Judaizers leads to a very different way of life than living by free grace.

Yet even Christians who want to live by grace can easily become selfish and self-centered. The self often comes first: What do I get out of it? Looking after one another in the congregation can easily come under pressure even without Judaizing influences.

Is that a living faith—or a dead one?

Loving concern for others is a key criterion in the judgment at Christ’s return. See Matt. 25:35–46: “Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of Mine, you did for Me.”

For pastors and church members alike, going astray is, in God’s eyes, mocking Him. You think you can get away with it in His house. But you forget that God sees everything, even into the hidden corners of your heart. Anyone seeking their own honor in the church—Judaizer or not—or who refuses to confess their sins before God, mocks Him.

And that has serious consequences. Whatever one sows, that is what one will reap. In this life, it comes down to whether you let yourself be led by the Spirit, fighting against the flesh, or whether you let yourself be led by your “old self.”

Ultimately, it will all be revealed in the harvest on the Last Day, when Christ returns to judge the living and the dead.

Are you afraid of Christ’s return?

Sing: Ps. 126:2