All right, our passage tonight is in Galatians chapter 6, so let's turn together to Galatians 6, and we'll be reading verses 1 through 5. Remember, we're in this series, a topical series on cultivating covenant community, and we're talking about how we relate to one another within the body of Christ. And hopefully this will help us to learn the specific ways that we are to love one another here at Christ Prez. And tonight we'll be looking at the theme, bear one another's burdens, bear one another's burdens. And it comes up in Galatians chapter six. We'll bring some other verses in, but let's start there. Galatians six, one through five. Let's read this and we'll pray and begin. Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted. Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. For 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. For each will have to bear his own load. All right, let's pray together and we'll start our study tonight. Father in heaven, we thank you that you have spoken to us clearly in your word as to what your will is for us. when it comes to how we relate to one another and covenant community. We thank you for the various lessons we've had so far on loving one another, forgiving one another, forbearing, instructing one another, welcoming one another, and tonight bearing one another's burdens. And we pray that you would help us, Lord, to be convicted where we need to be convicted. Pray that you would encourage us and inspire us to love one another better. And we pray that you would help us to be refined tonight through the teaching of your word. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. Man, dinner was so good, it took my mind away. So what is a burden? What is a burden? That's kind of what we'll be thinking about tonight in terms of bearing one another's burdens. Well, what is a burden? Well, you can see from your notes here, it's a heavy load that we carry. It weighs us down and takes away our strength. And so one of the images that comes to mind to me is I think of John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress, where he has a Bible in his hand and a burden on his back. Now, in that allegory, the burden is sin. But we'll see there's there are various kinds of burdens that we could have in the Christian life. And scripture calls us to bear those burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ. Now, just thematically, I wanted to start here by talking about how God desires to lift our burdens. It is the heart of God. It is the desire of God to take burdens away rather than place heavy burdens on our shoulders that we cannot bear. He invites us in the book of Psalms to cast our burdens on Him. Beautiful verse in Psalm 55 and verse 22 where it says, cast your burden on the Lord and He will sustain you. He will never permit the righteous to be moved. So God invites us to roll our burdens on Him. to not try to hold them all to ourself, but to put it in God's hands. Jesus also invites us to find rest from our burdens. One of the famous invitations of the Bible, where Jesus says in Matthew 11, 28 through 30, come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me For I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls, for my yoke is easy and my burden is light." So Jesus has a yoke that he places around our neck, he has a burden that he places upon us, but it's not too heavy to bear, right? He gives it to us, and it's called a light burden. Most likely he's contrasting that with the law, which was a heavy burden. And the scripture says a burden that neither we nor our fathers could bear. Jesus exposes false teachers, and when he exposes the Pharisees, the false teachers, in Matthew 23, he talks about how those legalistic false teachers placed heavy burdens on people. and they weren't willing to ease them. So it was a characteristic of false teachers that they did that. Matthew 23 in verse 4, Jesus said, they tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on people's shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to move them with a finger. So false teaching is oppressive. False teaching, you know, if it's legalistic, it adds this burden. It makes you feel weighed down and it's a lot. And so you think about the Pharisees who were masters at, you know, the doctrines and commandments of men, and they were piling on laws on top of the law and weighing people down. And so Jesus says, that's not what God wants for us. But the Holy Spirit desires to lay on us no greater burden than what is necessary for our spiritual welfare. So in Acts 15, when there were false teachers telling people you have to be circumcised according to the law of Moses to be saved, which also meant you have to keep the whole ceremonial law of the Old Testament to be saved, that the apostles resisted that. They said, no, salvation is by grace alone. And then they wrote a letter and sent it out to the churches. And when they sent that letter out, they said this in Acts 15 verse 28, it has seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us to lay on you no greater burden than these requirements. And they gave them very minimal requirements about how they were to live in such a way that they would give no offense to their Jewish brethren. And so God wants to help us with our burdens, and one of the ways he does that is not just, you know, we talked about prayer, cast your burden on the Lord, but also he wants to use the body of Christ. He wants to use the one another commands to help us to have our burdens lifted. And that's what the exhortation is about tonight. in Galatians 6 about bearing one another's burdens. How can we be instruments in the Redeemer's hands to come alongside another and help them shoulder that burden? We're not meant to do it alone. So, just in summary of this passage, Stuart Scott says this, He says, quote, this passage deals with helping a fellow believer who is going through a difficult trial. It is the responsibility of fellow believers to assist and help carry the burden. We can picture someone getting physically underneath someone else's burden to help shoulder it, like two oxen under a yoke. You get up underneath and help shoulder it because the person would otherwise be crushed By carrying the weight of the burden alone, a believer in Jesus Christ should not have to endure difficult trials by himself. It is the responsibility of fellow believers to help other Christians carry whatever heavy loads they are presently enduring. By obeying this one command to bear one another's burdens, believers create a beautiful picture of Christian unity and love. So there are things that burden us, right? It's too much for us to deal with alone, and we need our brothers and sisters in Christ to come over and lighten the load and help shoulder that burden. When I was thinking about this text, one of the images that came into my mind was years ago. Someone shared a video, probably on YouTube with me, of a bunch of Amish men moving a large barn. Imagine the size of your house type barn. And they were hoisting it up off the ground, 20-30 men, and they were moving it. But because all of them were involved picking this up, it was amazing they were able to bear the burden that would have crushed one of them or even dozens of them alone, right? And so that image kind of sticks in my mind of what it means for us to bear one another's burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ. I was thinking about examples. that I've noticed even here at Christ's Press that have been encouraging to me of times that we have been doing that. We've been bearing one of those burdens and fulfilling the law of Christ. I know that when Natalie had surgery not too long ago, we had people who brought us meals. We had people who offered to help out with the kids and watching the kids. We had some who came and sat with me at the hospital when she was in surgery. They were bearing my burden during that time. Natalie's burden as well. And so that was a time where we felt the love of Christ. Recently we had an elderly member of this congregation who had to make a move. And we had some men from the church go and actually physically move burdens from her house to her retirement community out of love for her. They were bearing her burdens during that time. How stressful that would have been if she did it alone. And so this is the kind of thing that is being spoken of when we're talking about bearing one another's burdens. Now, if you were to ask me before I studied this passage, what does it mean to bear one another's burdens and ask me to define a burden, I think I would have been able to say, yeah, I know it's a weight. I know it's like an affliction or it's a trial. It's something that weighs you down and you need help from your fellow Christians. I don't think I ever would have thought, just in isolation, that it also is talking about sin. So you may be surprised to know that John Calvin, in explaining this passage, thought that the concept of a burden includes weaknesses. We got that normally in our minds, but also sins. And this is suggested by the context. To flesh that out, I've quoted for you William Hendrickson. who says this, though the term one another's burdens is very general and applies to every type of oppressing affliction that is capable of being shared by the brotherhood, it should be borne in mind, nevertheless, that the point of departure for this exhortation, see chapter six, verse one, is the duty to extend help to the brother that he may overcome his spiritual weaknesses. So what he's saying is, if you notice, this passage began with an exhortation about a brother who's caught up in sin. And the idea is not someone who's sinning with a high hand or sinning against knowledge, but someone who's gotten caught up into it, he's fallen into sin. And he talks about restoring that brother in a spirit of gentleness, bring him back. And then he says, bear one another's burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ. So it seems like the connection there, otherwise it's a pretty abrupt transition, when you go from verse 1 to verse 2, it seems like the connection is that you have a specific instance of bearing one another's burdens, that is, restoring a brother who's caught up in sin in the spirit of gentleness, and then you have the general command, bear one another's burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ. That's the general But one instance is certainly being caught up in transgression. And so the idea then is one of the ways that we bear one another's burdens is by when we see our brother burdened down with sin, caught up in sin, ensnared in sin, we would restore him, verse 1, in a spirit of gentleness. And that gentle spirit is very important, right? It's not with an accusatory finger. It's not with harshness, which would make someone not willing to listen to the correction and the restoration. It's with gentleness and love. And then it also gives a warning here. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted. And the idea there might be when you're confronting someone else for their sin in a gentle way that you could fall into the same sin. But it also might be that there's a particular temptation that goes along with confronting someone. What might that be? You might feel superior pride. You might forget that you too are inclined to the same sins, that you have to keep watch on yourself, that you're no different than your brother who's caught up in this sin. But that's one kind of burden that Paul mentions specifically there, is being caught in a transgression. But I fleshed out in your notes here some other ones that I thought of throughout the Bible that also flesh out what these burdens are. One of them is having a responsibility for others and their welfare. This is Exodus 17 verses 8 through 16. I'll just summarize it for the sake of time. But remember, the people of Israel have come out... of slavery in Egypt, and who almost immediately comes out to oppose them, but the Amalekites. And so they have this war, and Joshua is fighting for the Hebrews against the Amalekites, and they're battling. And Moses is standing away from the field of battle, and he lifts up his rod, right, his staff. And when he lifts up his staff, Joshua and the armies of Israel prevail over Amalek. But what happens? That staff's kind of heavy, and it's hard to hold it up throughout a whole battle. And so Moses' arms get tired, right, and he starts to lower the staff. The only problem is, when he starts to lower the staff, the Amalekites start whipping up on the Israelites. And so you know the story of what happens. Aaron and Hur get on both sides. They get Moses, and they're like, sit down on this rock here, and then Aaron hoist up one side and her hoist up the other side and so the people of Israel are victorious. Moses had a lot on his shoulders there, right? The whole victory of the battle depended on Moses doing this. And he couldn't do it alone. He had a huge responsibility for the people. You think it's not unlike us in a much smaller way, but like the responsibility parents have for our children, for our grandchildren. We're responsible for their welfare and it's a burden in that sense. And so sometimes it's exhausting, sometimes it's tiresome. And so we need help, we need others to support us. There's another kind of burden, interestingly, in the next chapter of Exodus, and I actually want to read this one, is when Moses is, of course, he's functioning as the lawgiver to Israel in Exodus 18, but he is also functioning as the judge. And there was a whole lot of people who came out of slavery in Egypt. And so Moses is wearing himself out. And we see in Exodus 18, pick up the reading in verse 13, look what happens. The next day, Moses sat to judge the people, and the people stood around Moses from morning till evening. When Moses' father-in-law saw all that he was doing for the people, he said, what is this that you are doing for the people? Why do you sit alone and all the people stand around you from morning till evening? And Moses said to his father-in-law, because the people come to me to inquire of God. When they have a dispute, they come to me and I decide between one person and another. I make them know the statutes of God and his laws. Moses's father-in-law said to him, what you are doing is not good. Clarity is charity, right? What you are doing is not good. You and the people with you will certainly wear yourselves out for the thing is too heavy for you. You are not able to do it alone. Now obey my voice, I will give you advice and God will be with you. You shall represent the people before God and bring their cases to God. And you shall warn them about the statutes and the laws and make them know the way in which they must walk and what they must do. Moreover, look for able men from all the people, men who fear God, who are trustworthy, and hate a bribe, and place such men over the people as chiefs of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties, and of tens. And let them judge the people at all times. Every great matter they shall bring to you, but every small matter they shall decide for themselves. So it will be easier for you, and they will bear the burden with you. If you do this, God will direct you and you will be able to endure and all the people also will go to their place in peace. So thankfully, Moses had a father-in-law who had the decency and the good sense to give him some advice, right? Give him some biblical counsel. We talked about instructing one another last time we were together. And in this case, he's saying, Moses, you gotta delegate. You can't do it all on your own. If you do it all on your own, you're going to burn out. It's not the work of one man. I mean, you could almost, because of the context here, you could almost say, if Jethro knew about the situation in the previous chapter with the Amalekites, he would have said, don't forget who was holding up your staff. You didn't do that alone. You can't do this alone either. You need some capable men who are going to come along with you. And it'll make it easier, it'll make it more efficient, and it will will make it better and you'll be able to serve longer and do the things that God has called you to do. So in that case, a burden can be having too much for one person to do. That can be a burden. You know, you've been burdened with excessive workload, stressed out at work, or maybe you've been stressed out at home and things you've got to get done. Um, and it can be too much, right? And so that's another reason we need someone else to come along and bear the burden. Another burden is the burden of affliction. Uh, that one, I want to point you to second Corinthians chapter one, second Corinthians chapter one, where, uh, Paul is writing to the Corinthians and he, and he shares with them. a time in their life where they were so burdened they wanted to die. Yes, that's right. Paul and his companions were in Asia at one point, and they were so burdened by what was going on that they despaired of life itself. Look at this, 2 Corinthians chapter one in verse eight. It says, for we do not want you to be unaware, brothers, of the affliction we experienced in Asia. And look at this language here. For we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself. There's no indication here that that was a lack of faith or that he was sinning by doing that or anything like that. He's just saying we were so overwhelmed by the trial we had that we despaired of life itself. We were just overwhelmed. But notice what else he says here, verse 9. He says, Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death, but that was to make us rely not on ourselves. but on God who raises the dead. He delivered us from such a deadly peril and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope that he will deliver us again. And so he's cast his burden on the Lord, right? God raises the dead, he casts his burden on the Lord. But notice also how other Christians come into play. Verse 11, you also must help us. You also must help us how? By prayer. so that many will give thanks on our behalf for the blessing granted us through the prayers of many. So Paul was casting his burden on the Lord, but he was also not just doing that individually, personally, but he was, you've helped us by your prayers. You've helped us to bear the burden of this affliction. Maybe there's nothing you can do but pray sometimes to bear a burden, but the prayer itself can be an aspect of doing that. So why are we supposed to do this? Going back to Galatians 6 now, why bear one another's burdens? Well, notice the other half of that verse, Galatians 6 and verse 2, bear one another's burdens and so what? And so fulfill the law of Christ. If we are Christians, we want to fulfill the law of Christ. Now, most commentators agree that the law of Christ probably is in contrast in the book of Galatians to the law of Moses, not just talking about the Ten Commandments, but talking about the ceremonial laws that were added to that, right? So, because in Galatians, remember, there was the heresy that said, unless you're circumcised according to the law of Moses and keep the ceremonial law of the Old Testament, you can't be saved. And so Christ had come. He had fulfilled the law. We're no longer under the obligation of the ceremonial law. The Ten Commandments, which are a summary of the moral law, are still in place. Christ has freed us from the requirement to earn our salvation by obeying the law, but the law is still in the hand of Christ, and he still wants us to walk in obedience to the spirit of the law, which is what? Love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, and love one another as we love ourselves, also as Christ has loved us. Remember, we talked about the new commandment. The new commandment, Jesus says, is you love one another as I have loved you. So most likely we're talking about love here, the law of love. Paul talks about this in an almost paradoxical way in 1 Corinthians chapter 9, just to kind of give you the flavor of this law of Christ. 1 Corinthians 9, 20 and 21, Paul's talking about how his missionary methods were contextualized, they were flexible, and he would adapt to various situations depending on the people he was ministering to for the sake of the gospel, to win them to Christ. And so he says in 1 Corinthians 9, 20, he says, to the Jews, I became like a Jew in order to win the Jews. To those under the law, I became as one under the law, though not being myself under the law, that I might win those under the law. To those outside the law, talking about the law of Moses now, I became as one outside the law, but notice his qualification. Not being outside the law of God, but under the law of Christ. that I might win those outside the law." So what he's saying there is clearly the law of Christ, the law of God are one and the same. The law of Moses, including all those ceremonial parts and temporary parts that pointed forward to Christ, that has been set aside. He can keep that under certain circumstances when he wants to win Jewish people to Christ. But in all cases, he's being obedient to the law of Christ. And so when we bear one another's burdens, we fulfill what Christ wants us to do. That's the simplest way to put it. What does Christ want us to be? How does he want us to treat one another? Well, when you see someone who's weighed down under a burden, they're caught up in a sin, they need gentle correction. That's how you bear their burden in that case. When someone is going through a time where they have a responsibility to care for others but it's too much for them and they're weighed down, you come alongside and you help them. When someone has too much work, you come along and try to see if you can take something off their plate, right? When someone's going through affliction, you offer to pray for them or help them in whatever way you can. We are to help the weak and so fulfill the law of Christ. Now what's interesting, Going back now to Galatians 6 is that this is a very balanced piece of instruction because he makes it clear that bearing one another's burdens does not, I should say does, does not mean that we take away another person's personal responsibility. How might that happen? Well, if you feel like you're stressed out at work, why don't you just stop working and we'll give you money and you don't have to work anymore. I'm bearing their burdens and so fulfilling the law of Christ. Well, look at the context here. Verse five, which says, each will have to bear his own load, doesn't contradict verse two that says, bear one another's burdens. Isn't that interesting? In verse two, he says, bear one another's burdens. And then in verse five, he says, each will have to bear his own load. So do I have to bear my load or do we bear one another's burden? So you have to, those both are true, right? That we bear one another's burdens, but also each person has personal responsibility to bear his own load. In the original language, and I'll spare you the words, but those are different words. Paul deliberately used different words for a burden that we are to bear one another, help each other out with. And then there's something that is yours. It's your load and you have to bear it for yourself. So he's talking about receiving help. There are some things that we are weak and we need others to come along and help us with. But also there's the other part of it, personal responsibility. You've got to do your work. You've got to do your part. You've got to take responsibility for your life as well. So bearing one another's burdens is not doing for someone else what they should be doing for themselves. Does that make sense? It's not doing for someone else what they should be doing for themselves. Often if you're doing for someone else what they should be doing for themselves, you're enabling them. Maybe you're enabling them to be lazy, maybe you're enabling them to shirk responsibility, But the reality is bearing one another's burdens is to come alongside someone and help them do what God has called them to do. So to take the example from Exodus 18, Jethro didn't say, you know, it's really too hard for you to judge all these people. Let's find someone else to do it. He didn't say that to Moses, did he? He said, let me find some men who can help you. And you're going to keep working and doing what you can do, but they're going to come along and help, right? Another way to put it with the illustrations we've used, it's not like Moses, you know, when he was holding up the staff and Aaron Hurr came over, they grabbed it and he said, see you guys later, and stepped away from it, right? They all three were involved in it, right? And so there's a cooperation, there's a togetherness. So Paul, to take his life as an example, if you read 1 Thessalonians 2.9 and 2 Thessalonians 3.8 at another time, Paul makes it clear in those passages that when, you remember he was a tip maker and so he had an earthly vocation where he would get his money and then he would also preach. And he worked hard, he says he worked hard night and day so that he wouldn't be a burden to the Thessalonians. It was a young, struggling church and he didn't want them to feel like it was too hard to support him financially. And so he bore his own load. He preached his heart out and he also worked his tail off. Because he was willing to accept help, but he was not willing to lay aside his personal responsibility. So we're called to come alongside each other and offer help, but we're not called to take over. And sometimes, you know, that can happen. You're trying to help somebody and you just take over. We're not called to take over. You're called to come along and encourage them and help them. So that becomes very important to, it takes great wisdom, I'm not saying it's simple, it's very hard, to figure out sometimes when you're trying to help somebody and bear their burden and so fulfill the law of Christ, when you're helping or when you slip into hindering them. fulfilling their responsibility. And so obviously, especially our deacons here at the church could tell us stories of how that can be challenging at times. How do you do that? You gotta pray for God's wisdom, seek counsel. Obviously, it's one of those things where sometimes we don't do it the right way and we ask for forgiveness and we move on. But we are called to bear one another's burdens, but also encourage people to say, no, you have your own load to bear here. You have your own responsibility and obligation in all of this. So, practical applications for us as we try to kind of clarify exactly what this entails for us. What about those people, so the people in the church, various times, various seasons, different people, different places, who are shouldering heavy burdens? So self-identify, okay? Are you one who right now is just, you feel overwhelmed, burned out, burdens heavy on your shoulders, you're tired, you're exhausted, it's just, you feel like it's too much for you. Maybe it's a job, maybe it's an affliction, maybe it's some other thing that we've talked out tonight. Questions, questions for your heart. Are you isolating yourselves, yourself from others? If you isolate yourself from others, if you isolate yourself from church, or isolate yourself from fellowship, community, among the saints, then you're not gonna receive the help that you need, because these one and other commands are only obeyed in the context of community, right? That's why Proverbs 18.1 says, whoever isolates himself is not wise. Do you know your need for help? I think that's probably one of the hard things that we have when we're shouldering a large burden. We're Americans, figure it out. Toughen up, be independent, and show some initiative and solve your own problems. But are you willing to receive help from others? Are you willing to say, no, I'm really, I'm tapped out. I need to ask for someone else to come alongside and help me. I need to delegate these things. I will burn out if I do that. We have to be willing to say those things and ask for help. Are you trying to do more than one person can do? That's what Moses was doing, right? Moses is like, I'm the lawgiver here. I got the stick. I got the staff. And Jethro was like, hold on a second. What you're doing is not good. You need to have some other men to come alongside and help you. Or have you believed the devil's lie that if you reach out for help, you will become a burden to others? So often you can find when people are having a hard time or they're overwhelmed by life and they feel weighed down and they're under this burden, they don't want to ask for help because they think, well, if I ask this person for help, I'm going to become a burden to them. And so the Holy Spirit would want you to ask for help with your burden, right? Responsible help. But you think, well, the evil one makes you think, well, I've become a burden to them, then I just should do this myself. Really, the root problem we struggle with sometimes when we're weighed down by burdens is pride. We don't want to admit that we need someone to help us. We don't want to admit that we need that help. And so that is, that's so important for us to think about. What about for those who are strong and could help others with their burdens? I know these aren't perfect categories, but there are times where you're like, I don't, I don't feel like, I don't feel burdened. I feel pretty strong. I feel like I want to minister to someone. I want to help someone. What does that person do? Well, are you looking for people who are weighed down with heavy burdens? I mean, think about the way it talks about Jesus in the Gospels when it says, he looked out on the crowds. And what does it say? He saw them harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Jesus is constantly looking for people who are hurting, who are tired, who are burned out, who are in need of help. He's drawn to sinners and he's drawn to sufferers. And so we should look for opportunities where others need help. Do we have compassion for them? The heart of Christ is moved with compassion for those who need help, who are under burdens. We saw at the beginning of this lesson that God wants us to cast our burdens on Him. That's the heart of God. And we should have that heart Towards others. Who's tired? Who's burned out? Who's struggling to keep up? Ask those kind of questions and think through who might need help. And then, are we willing to do practical acts of service to help others? Prayer is great, and like I said, prayer can be a way you bear someone's burdens, but sometimes it calls for more than prayer. It calls for a visit, it calls for a phone call, it calls for a text, it calls for going to the person and moving boxes. Whatever it is, it calls for action. The hands and feet of Christ to be involved. So again, all of this is not saying that we take over and help someone to the extent where they're no longer involved and they just sit back and enjoy the ride. But rather, it's not I'll do this for you, it's I'll help you and we'll get this done together. Wouldn't that be wonderful if that was the atmosphere? of our church. If we would just say, you know, when you really want to do something for the Lord, or you're really struggling in life, or you're going through an affliction, like you know that others are going to come to you and say, let's, let me help and let's do it together. That would be, that would be wonderful. And I think that's what this command means when it says, bear one another's burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ. So let's pray together and we'll go to our discussion groups. Father in heaven, we thank you for your word. It is simple and straightforward in terms of understanding it. Yet we know there are countless applications which raise all kinds of complexities. Some questions we have about what the best thing to do is to care for one another. But Lord, we pray that your Holy Spirit would move our hearts to have compassion for one another. And when we see a brother or sister struggling under a heavy load, help us to bear one another's burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ. The times where we have to confront one another and restore a brother, help us to do it in a spirit of gentleness. And help us to keep watch on ourselves, for we are susceptible to the same sins that trap others. Speak to us through this word, Lord, and help us as we encourage one another in our discussions. May we sharpen one another and we pray these things in Jesus name. Amen.