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When I meet one of my sons at
the bus stop after school, one of the first things he says to
me is if I can carry his backpack for him. Now, the walk from the
bus stop to our house isn't very long, but that backpack, let
me tell you, is heavy. In fact, I'm surprised when he
has it on he doesn't topple backwards, because that's how heavy it is.
And so, of course, I'm happy to carry his backpack for him
as we walk back to our house. I'm happy to bear his burden. And that's exactly what we are
to do for one another. Paul says in verse two, bear
one another's burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ. Now,
burden refers to anything that makes life difficult. Specifically,
it is anything that makes living for Christ difficult. It could
be a sin. And in fact, this will be the
example Paul gives in verse 1. But a burden could also be an
illness that makes life hard, or family trouble, or anything
that makes living for Christ difficult. Anything that weighs
us down as we run the race set before us is a burden that we
have to bear. Now the fact that Paul says here,
one another, implies of course that we're all going to be afflicted
with burdens. No one will be immune. No Christian
is going to sail through this life with no sin problems, no
trials, no tribulations. And even though Christ has promised
us a future when he will wipe away every tear from our eyes,
and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor
crying, nor pain anymore, the fact still remains that in the
present we will shed tears We will experience pain and we will
die. We will all sin and be sinned
against. We will have our own demons to
fight, our own obstacles to overcome, our own problems to solve. Now,
to be sure, our burdens won't all be the same. And for some
of us, our burdens are gonna be heavier than those of others. But the fact is that we will
all be weighed down from time to time as we run our race to
glory. And so what Jesus wants us to
do is to help one another, to bear one another's burdens. The
story is told of a horse that refused to help the donkey who
carried all of the burdens. Eventually, the donkey, because
of the weight he had to bear, drops dead. And then the horse
had to carry the full load himself. You see, we don't want to be
that horse or that donkey. If we have no one to help, then
the burden might be too great to bear, and we may not make
it. And if we refuse to help, then a day might come when we
have to bear our own load, and nobody will be there to help
us. You see, that's not how it's
to be among the people of God, in the house of God. We are to
love one another as we love ourselves. In fact, we are to love one another
as Jesus has loved us. And that means we're going to
help one another and bear one another's burdens. Now, how might
we do that? Practically speaking, what does
that even look like? Well, of course, the answer will
depend upon the kind of burden the person is experiencing. But
help might include something like prayer, or financial help,
a word of encouragement, a word of instruction, the use of our
talents, our skills, and time. It might be a visit, a letter,
an email, phone call, a hug, things of that nature. The practical
example, though, that Paul gives is that of helping somebody,
a brother or sister, who has fallen into sin. So verse one,
brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who
are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. So in this verse, Paul pictures
or paints sin as a predator that chases and catches us. So think
of a line that's pursuing you. Maybe you don't even know what's
coming after you, but all of a sudden it catches up to you
and pounces on you. And now you are in the clutches
of sin. Now we're captured, we're entangled
and ensnared in our sin. Sin is getting the better of
us. Perhaps it's destroying our own life, our family's life,
our job, our relationships, what have you. So, for an example,
think of somebody who has slowly but surely stopped going to church
and following the Lord Jesus. Think of somebody who's gambling
all their money away, or somebody who's drinking their life away.
Think of someone who's living in sexual sin. Think of a marriage
that's falling apart at the seams. Sin has entangled them, and they
have this burden that they are bearing. See, these are real
and tangible burdens that Christians sometimes have to bear, and they
weigh them down. They make following Jesus difficult. So what are we to do when we
see that happening to a brother or sister in the church? What
are we to do? Who is to help? And how are they
to help? Well, Paul says in terms of what
we are to do, he says we are to restore the brother who has
been caught in a transgression. Now, that word restore was used
to refer to mending fishnets, or to rebuild walls, or to reset
broken bones. It's to fix what is broken so
it's like it's new again. And so to restore a sinning Christian
will involve talking to that person about their sin, encouraging
and helping him to forsake it, to repent of it, and then encouraging
and helping him to walk again in obedience to the Lord. So
if we're going to restore then, that means we're gonna have to
get involved in each other's personal lives. To get involved
in each other's business, if you will. Now, we mustn't go
around looking for sin or go around telling people how to
live or micromanage their lives or sticking our nose where it
does not belong. But if we do see a brother, And
do note we're talking about brothers here, Christian brothers and
sisters, not unbelievers, but fellow church members, fellow
Christ followers. If we see a brother caught, ensnared
in a sin, weighed down by it, living in it, then we need to
go and help the brother out. Now we might find that awkward
and uncomfortable. We might think that if we get
involved, they're going to get mad at us for interfering and
getting up all in their business. We might think, well, that's
their problem, not mine. They need to deal with it. We
might think that, well, we don't want to be judgmental. We don't
want to be nosy, busybodies. Hey, I'm a sinner too, so what
can I say? I mean, we can come up with a
thousand excuses to do absolutely nothing and let that Christian
brother or sister carry that burden by themselves. But you
see, we are a family, and certainly family needs to get involved.
Family intervenes when there's a major issue going on. Family helps even when it might
be hard to do so, or even when we know that the help may not
be appreciated. And so Paul says we are to restore. Notice he doesn't say we are
to punish, upbraid, or throw the brother out. Now, obviously,
if you commit a crime, then the state might come and punish you.
But it's not our job to punish. Our job is to help and restore. If you gamble your life savings
away, the world might look down upon you and call you every name
in the book for destroying your family and their finances. But
that is not what we are to do. Our job is to help and restore. If you go on a drug bender, or
if you're caught abusing your spouse, you might be canceled
by the world, and your spouse might biblically divorce you.
But that's not what we are to do. Our job is to help and restore. But who exactly is to do that?
Well, Paul says that those who are spiritual should restore
a sinning brother. Now, spiritual refers to a person
who has the spirit. And so it refers to every believer. Paul is not saying that only
some Christians have the obligation to help, only the elders or the
deacons, or only a specially trained and elite type of Christian. He says every Christian has the
duty to restore because they were all spiritual. After all, every Christian has
the Spirit dwelling in them. Every Christian has the Spirit
producing the fruit of the Spirit in them. So there is a sense
in which every Christian has the obligation to help restore
a sinning brother. But having said that, by using
the term spiritual, Paul may be making the point that only
Christians who are walking in the spirit, keeping in step with
the spirit, as he talked about earlier, are the ones who should
restore. I say this because in 1 Corinthians
chapter 3 Paul does distinguish between spiritual and carnal
Christians. Now by making that statement
he's not saying that there are two types of Christians, those
who have the spirit and those who don't. No, there's only one
type of spirit. He uses that phrase because The Corinthians were
acting carnally by being sectarian and divisive. He's calling them
carnal because he is rebuking them and even perhaps scolding
them for the way they were acting. They were not being spiritual,
in other words. They were not walking in the
spirit through their sectarianism and divisiveness. And so if a
Christian is living in sin or acting carnally, then he shouldn't
be the one to restore. He himself needs to repent, and
then he'll be in a position to help a brother out. And so pastors, elders, professional
counselors are not the only ones God calls upon to help those
who are caught in a transgression. Now, this is not to say, of course,
that we can't call upon experts or refer one another to an expert. I mean, for some situations,
we will definitely want to do that sort of thing. But we don't
always have to do that. And even if we do do that, we
can certainly continue to come alongside that person and pray
with them and be with them, help them in any way that we can. And certainly, as spirit-filled
Christians, we are more than competent to comfort and assist
one another. Well, how are we to restore?
Well, Paul says that we are to do so in a spirit of gentleness. Not harsh, not in anger, but
with gentleness. At the end of chapter five, Paul
warns us not to become conceited, provoking one another, envying
one another. If we are conceited, if we are
puffed up full of ourselves, then we will end up despising
other people, especially those who have fallen into sin. We
will look down upon them in a spirit of superiority. We will be like
the Pharisee who looks over at the tax collector and says, man,
I thank God I'm not like that terrible sinner over there. And
if that is our attitude, if we are proud, then we may not even
extend a helping hand. But if we do, then we will be
condescending and harsh, and instead of helping, we might
end up hurting and making matters worse. We might discourage them,
or we might even, as it were, push them further into their
sin, provoking them, if you will. Also, if we are envy, envious
of others and we look upon them and we wish we had their status
or position or wealth or role or whatever the case might be,
when we do see them fall into sin, we might even experience
a perverse sense of joy. We'll be glad that they have
fallen because it takes them down a notch or two and closer
to where we are. And again, if that is our attitude,
we may not even extend a helping hand because we want them to
wallow a little longer in their sin and its consequences. And
if we do actually try to address their situation when we're filled
with envy, again, it's not going to be with gentleness. No, to
restore well, we need to be humble, kind, meek, gentle. We need to be spiritual, bearing
forth the fruit of the spirit. This is why Paul says at the
end of verse one, keep watch on yourself, lest you be tempted. You know, if you try to help
somebody who's drowning, you have to be very careful yourself,
because if you just jump in and try to help them, they might
latch onto you and bring you down, so you both drown. So you
have to be very careful, you have to watch out for yourself
so that you don't drown too. And in the same way, we need
to be on our guard when we help our brother who is drowning in
his sin. We might be tempted to join him
in his sin, or to sin in some other way. I have heard several
stories, and perhaps you've heard them too, of counselors who have
ended up sinning with their counselees. But the temptation that Paul
has primarily in mind here is probably that of pride and self-righteousness. To think that we are better than
the other person. And haughtiness, arrogance, pride,
whatever you call it, those are terrible sins. And whether you
realize it or not, they will color what you say, how you say
it, and how you come across and how you act. And we need to be
on our guard against pride. And if you don't think that's
the case, then remember what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 10. Therefore, let him who thinks
he stands take heed lest he fall. Or what Proverbs 16 says in verse
18. Pride goes before destruction
and a haughty spirit before a fall. Now the very fact that Paul tells
us that we need to be on our guard lest we be tempted reminds
us, of course, that we ourselves are sinners and that the roles
could be reversed here. And in fact, one day they probably
will be. We will need help because we have stumbled or fallen. We
all need grace and mercy. And of course, being reminded
of that, knowing that, should instill in us the humility and
the gentleness that we need to be able to help restore someone.
But if we insist on thinking too highly of ourselves, Paul
has some words for us in verse three, where he says, for if
anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives
himself. You'll consider again the Pharisee
in Jesus's parable. I mean, he thought he was something. In fact, a lot of people thought
he was something. He was a family man, went to
church, a leader in the church. He was an outstanding, upstanding
citizen. He didn't commit any major sins,
certainly didn't commit any crimes. Now, without discounting, Any
of the good that he had done, it was still true, of course,
that a Pharisee was a sinner. And he wasn't nearly as good
as he thought he was. In fact, Jesus had to rebuke
them on many occasions for the way they treated people. Jesus
directed, in fact, the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector
to Pharisees because they trusted in themselves that they were
righteous and treated others with contempt. Those two always
seem to go together. If you're proud, soft, righteous,
arrogant, you're gonna look down on people and treat them with
contempt. And so there was the Pharisee
who thought he was better than everybody else, as it were, breaking
the second greatest commandment, to love your neighbor as yourself. Instead of loving his neighbor,
he was despising them and treating them with contempt. Now Paul,
of course, was the Pharisee's Pharisee. When he looked into
the mirror, he saw greatness. He saw someone better than all
of his peers. He wasn't just better than the
Pharisee and the sinner. That's too easy. Paul was better
than all the other Pharisees. He surpassed them all. But he was self-deceived. He
too despised other people. He hated his enemies and persecuted
them. even had them killed. And he
did it all in the name of God. And so he took God's name in
vain, and he led others to blaspheme God by his wicked actions. Now, the reason we think too
highly of ourselves, like the Pharisee, is because we end up
judging ourselves by the wrong standard. As I think everybody
knows, if you want to feel good about yourself, make yourself
look good, the best way to do that is to compare yourself to
other people, and especially compare yourself to people who
have fallen into a public transgression. And if a brother is caught in
a sin, and instead of looking at him in compassion, instead
of knowing that we could have fallen too, what we see then
is someone who is not us, someone who is less than us, and we stand,
and we begin to stand up straight and stick our chest out. You
see, we judge ourselves by comparing ourselves to other people. And
if we compare ourselves to people who struggle with sins that we
don't struggle with, well, that can really make us feel good
and think that we are better than we really are. And when
that happens, we need to remember what Paul says in verses four
and five. But let each one test his own
work, then his reason to boast will be in himself alone and
not in his neighbor, for each will have to bear his own load. You see, here we see it's actually
good to examine yourself on occasion. But you see, when you examine
yourself and you look at what you do, You need to look at yourself
and your work as it really is, and not as it compares with certain
other people. In other words, you need to judge
yourself according to God's commandments, his word, and not according to
how your neighbor acts or doesn't act. Because at the end of the
day, indeed at the judgment, the work's not gonna be graded
on a curve, but it's gonna be graded on its own terms. That's
what Paul means, for each will have to bear his own load. God's
not gonna look at you and say, well, you were better than this
other person, so man, you've done great. He's going, everybody
on the day of judgment will have to bear their own load. And of
course, when we judge ourselves in light of God's word, then
we won't be puffed up, but have a right understanding of ourselves. We will see where we have fallen,
where we have done much better, done well. And of course, since God's law
itself calls us to be gentle, to be meek, then when we are
not, we will realize that we too, just like our brother, need
mercy and grace. And that, again, should encourage
us and instill in us the gentleness and meekness that we need and
the humility that we need to be able to truly help one another. Well, Jesus came into the world
to carry our burdens so that we might be saved from our sins. Not only from the guilt of our
sins, but also from a life of sin. Which is to say that Christ
came to bear our burdens so that we might bear one another's burdens. And when we do that, Paul says,
we fulfill the law of Christ. We keep the law that Christ gave
to Moses, which is summarized in this, love your neighbor as
yourself. And it's in Christ that we are
able to love one another as he has loved us, because we have
the spirit of Christ working in us and enabling us to bear
one another's burdens.
Bearing Burdens
Series Galatians
| Sermon ID | 1015231743117950 |
| Duration | 23:55 |
| Date | |
| Category | Sunday - AM |
| Bible Text | Galatians 6:1-5 |
| Language | English |
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