Backpack Backpack

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Oops - when we are trying to perform, we by nature compete, we judge, we condemn...

Backpack, backpack. Backpack, backpack. If you were a child or parent of a young child anywhere close to my generation, you know that is the beginning of a song.

I’m the backpack loaded up with things and knickknacks too, anything that you might need I’ve got inside for you.

That’s right, this backpack, on this child.

You thought this was a simple kids show, but no. Dora is a sermon illustration now.

If you did not spend large chunks of your life with Dora the Explorer and her backpack friend, this song wasn’t kidding.

At some point in Dora’s adventure, there would be a need for…something. A book, a pair of scissors, a fondue kit…something. And every time, the backpack would have it.

AND MORE!

Dora would see the need, but not know exactly what she needed. So she would ask the audience to look in her backpack, you would hear the backpack sing his song, and then he would show us 5 items and ask which one would meet the need.

Oh, you’re trying to help the pigs build a house? the mortar and trowel is what we need?

But how much weight is that on the back of a seven year old girl?

Doctors say a child should carry no more than 10-15% of their body weight in a backpack.

So…in this pack, what is she carrying. Let me give you the list:

teacup, jack-in-the-box, sunglasses, flashlight, 5 books, doll, horn, trumpet, shovel, mug, bucket, mitten, trowel, (you thought I was kidding) boots, one more book, beachball, necklace, toy airplane, party hat, pencil, another book, crayon, 16 coins, and a pink bracelet.

That’s season 1. Go down the road and there’s a point where she has multiple ladders or two fully functional space suits.

Total weight is well over 20 pounds.

Average weight of a seven year old girl, around 50.

That’s 40% folks. Much higher than any child, even an explorer named Dora should bear. And Nickelodeon has some explaining to do!

It’s too much. Too great a burden. It’s funny, but burdens often aren’t.

There is a great saying, that has been attributed to many: Be kind, for everyone is fighting a battle you know nothing about.

When we see someone trying to move a piece of furniture alone, we offer to help.

But the greatest burdens most people carry we can’t see.

Scripture has much to say about meeting the needs of one another, helping one another, and we have spent some time here already. But Galatians gives us a “one another” statement that deals with a burden we don’t think of as often as we ought.

Galatians 6:1-5 “Brothers and sisters, if someone is overtaken in any wrongdoing, you who are spiritual, restore such a person with a gentle spirit, watching out for yourselves so that you also won’t be tempted. Carry one another’s burdens; in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ. For if anyone considers himself to be something when he is nothing, he deceives himself. Let each person examine his own work, and then he can take pride in himself alone, and not compare himself with someone else. For each person will have to carry his own load.”

Galatians 6:2 is often quoted alone, it’s a great coffee cup verse. Help one another. That’s nice. But every study of the text I can find, ties verse 2 to the verses around it in a way that clearly is not about moving boxes.

In this letter, Paul has been dealing with a church trying to perform. They were trying to live up to the law, they were trying to accomplish salvation. This leads Paul to say he was amazed at their abandonment of the gospel in chapter 1 and flat calls them foolish in chapter 3.

One of the results, one of the warning lights of performative religion instead of surrendered faith comes in the way we see one another’s failures.

Hear what Jesus said to the Pharisees and teachers of the law:

Luke 11:46 “Then he said, “Woe also to you experts in the law! You load people with burdens that are hard to carry, and yet you yourselves don’t touch these burdens with one of your fingers.”

Your faith has become a scorecard. You perform, you make others perform, you pile a burden on them…but don’t lift a finger to help them carry that load.

Paul…was one of them. Until he met the radical love of Jesus. That held him accountable for his sin, but also carried it for him.

Paul knows the power of this and is furious that this church has abandoned simple faith for performance.

Ugh - We miss love, we miss Jesus, we hurt others and put ourselves under judgement

It’s far simpler to just go down a list and go, Sin check, not sin check, you’re good, you’re not.

Paul is agressively arguing with the church here that there is a better way. Back in verse 5 he lays out the works of the flesh, which he says are obvious, and then the fruit of the spirit.

I could spend a day on that word choice. Works of flesh, fruit of spirit. One is about choices, the other grows out of a new nature....

We often stop after the reciting of the fruit list, but the thought isn’t finished with the list.

Galatians 5:24-26 “Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.”

There is a relationship between our fruit and the way we think about our own behavior and how we respond to others. And then his very next words are where we are sitting today:

Galatians 6:1 “Brothers and sisters, if someone is overtaken in any wrongdoing...”

Sin, tresspass, fault, depending on your version. How do we respond to someone caught by the snare of sin?

Aha! - We see sin as a burden. One we carry…and one others carry too. mostly right sized…but there are times when the burden becomes a load.

The key I want to focus on is verse 2, the coffee cup verse that we now have context for.

Galatians 6:2 “Carry one another’s burdens; in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.”

We need to see the sins of others as a burden they are carrying. And if we go back to the fruit of the spirit, the law of Christ is…love. And love in this case means to help them carry that burden.

But what does that mean, what does it look like?

Whee! - We help others with theirs, we carry our own

Bearing One Another’s Burdens

Let’s look at verse 1 again:

Galatians 6:1 “Brothers and sisters, if someone is overtaken in any wrongdoing, you who are spiritual, restore such a person with a gentle spirit, watching out for yourselves so that you also won’t be tempted.”

I’ll come back to the front end, but note the back. “Watching out for yourselves so that you also won’t be tempted.

If you jump to verse 3 you’ll see this continue.

Galatians 6:3 “For if anyone considers himself to be something when he is nothing, he deceives himself.”

If you think you are above another’s sin, you are lying to yourself. and that’s point 1.

Watch Yourself

You know what will help you restore someone with a gentle spirit? When you are fully aware how easily you could end up in the same place if you were in the same situation.

If you consider yourself to be something when you’re nothing...

You are not above anyone’s sin. The worst of things you see on the news could be you if your circumstances were theirs.

And when you look at the way Jesus responded to sin, he was FAR more harsh on those who thought their sin smaller because they followed the rules

Luke 18:10-14 “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee was standing and praying like this about himself: ‘God, I thank you that I’m not like other people—greedy, unrighteous, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give a tenth of everything I get.’ “But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even raise his eyes to heaven but kept striking his chest and saying, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner!’ I tell you, this one went down to his house justified rather than the other, because everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”

The posture that Paul is getting at is the posture of the tax collector.

Know your sin. As Jesus said in the sermon on the mount, spend your time on the log in your own eye. then you can help your friend with the speck in theirs.

Is their sin a speck and yours a log in every case? NO. But that is how you should treat sin. Yours with ruthless pursuit of removal, theirs with gentle grace.

In 1 Timothy 1, Paul shares how God has cared for him and makes this note:

1 Timothy 1:15-17 This saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance: “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners”—and I am the worst of them. But I received mercy for this reason, so that in me, the worst of them, Christ Jesus might demonstrate his extraordinary patience as an example to those who would believe in him for eternal life. Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.

Watch yourself.

One more thought on us, before we look at how we carry their burden.

Galatians 6:4-5 “Let each person examine his own work, and then he can take pride in himself alone, and not compare himself with someone else. For each person will have to carry his own load.”

Carry Your Load

(put verse back up, don’t read)

You have a responsibility to carry the load that is yours.

Sometimes we want everyone else to carry our ordinary load of pressure and sin, because we believe we’re the only ones who bear one.

Imagine yourself back in high school with a backpack full of books and asking other students to carry them for you.

One by one they would look at you and wonder if you couldn’t see that they had their own.

And their like, Oh, I have math and english today…my backpack is overloaded.

While the one they are talking to has math, english, and physics...

We can always make a case for why our burden is heavier than everyone elses, why someone else should come help.

But that old saying applies. EVERYONE is fighting a battle you know nothing about.

How does this come out?

When I am short tempered with people, usually my family, because it’s been “a day” or the burden is feeling especially heavy.

And I expect them to carry my sinful attitude without complaint because of my burden. Never mind that they each had their own day. That they are carrying their own burdens.

But I look and think, their difficulties are not as hard as mine, so I am allowed to burden them, but not the other way around.

“And not compare himself with someone else”

Wait.

You started this whole thing by saying we were to carry others loads…now you’re telling me to carry mine?

YES.

I’ll get back to carrying other’s burdens in a moment, that’s still the theme. But this is a huge part of this.

YOU CAN NEVER EXPECT SOMEONE ELSE TO CARRY YOUR SIN LOAD.

If your struggles have brought you to a point where your actions and attitudes are sinful, That’s the picture of verse 1, “overtaken in wrongdoing”…

You have no claim on others to come in and just take it without complaint.

You are responsible for you.

Now, of MASSIVE importance: Jesus died to cover those sins before the father. God has given great grace. He did what you couldn’t.

But you are responsible between you and others for your sin that hurts them. No matter why you did it. to seek forgiveness, and repent

And you aren’t responsible for their sin that hurts you, are called to forgive regardless of repentance.

How many people think this might be unfair?

It is.

But how many people are thankful that this is exactly how God treats each of you? AMEN!

Let’s shift gears by going back.

Galatians 6:1-2 “Brothers and sisters, if someone is overtaken in any wrongdoing, you who are spiritual, restore such a person with a gentle spirit, watching out for yourselves so that you also won’t be tempted. Carry one another’s burdens; in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.”

Look for Burdens

Quick but essential point.

Yes, they are responsible for their own load. But you who are spiritual. Those of you who know the great mercy and grace of God, don’t reject another because of their sin, but restore with a gentle spirit, again, knowing how easily sin could ensnare you.

Again, no one can expect this from you, but God is calling you to do it.

When you see sin in another’s life, look for the burden.

As we just said, we don’t want to compare. Comparison is always about minimizing someone else for our advantage.

But it you stop and look for the burden, you will see that sometimes others are carrying a load that is disproportionate.

Griefs, trials, pain, history...

We’re great about using these to justify our own sin, but to stop and get curious about what another might have experienced? That’s harder. Scripture calls it mercy.

It makes us gentle.

Carry One Another’s Burdens

Here’s how we do this thing.

First, bearing the another’s sin burden doesn’t mean we ignore it.

If someone is unrepentantly sinning, it hurts people. Even if there is a burden that makes it understandable, it still does harm to others in the church, the witness of the church, and to the person sinning!

We still need to address it, even if they don’t want to hear it.

But it does change the way we do it.

Deuteronomy 32:35 “Vengeance belongs to me; I will repay. In time their foot will slip, for their day of disaster is near, and their doom is coming quickly.””

That is one of many verses where God claims the right of vengeance.

He takes it out of my hands.

Why?

Because he knows how to handle it.

I don’t.

Not without sinning myself.

Ultimately…this is the message of the gospel. God’s vengeance and what he did with it.

He took it on himself. Love pays the price of the sins of another. or as Peter says it:

1 Peter 4:8 “Above all, maintain constant love for one another, since love covers a multitude of sins.”

So we don’t look to punish another for their sin. Jesus already took that.

Note Paul’s word choice in the beginning of our passage:

Galatians 6:1 “Brothers and sisters, if someone is overtaken in any wrongdoing, you who are spiritual, restore such a person with a gentle spirit, watching out for yourselves so that you also won’t be tempted.”

RESTORE

Our goal is them fully walking in God’s grace

We also begin from our earlier points.

Watching ourselves and carrying our own sin first.

I have learned over the years that someone else’s sin against me can be for my benefit. They don’t mean it that way. In the book of Genesis, Joseph comments to his brothers:

Genesis 50:20 “You planned evil against me; God planned it for good to bring about the present result—the survival of many people.”

Paul notes the same about his suffering:

Philippians 1:12 “Now I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that what has happened to me has actually advanced the gospel,”

When you are sinned against, do you know what you get?

1. You get to see your sin more clearly.

This is tough, because it’s so much easier to zoom in on theirs.

This is where humility, our keyword for this whole series comes in.

When we respond to the sins of others, by noting what sin is prompts in us, we get an insight we can’t find anywhere else.

I have learned so much about my judgementalism, my lack of trust in God, my selfishness, my unforgiveness, my arrogance, my fear…not because people were kind…but because of their sin.

I think this is why Paul says only those who are spiritual should be involved in restoring someone from their sin. The spiritual are ready to be laid bare and revealed. They are ready for repentance of their own. And ANY attempt to get someone else out of sin when we don’t or won’t see our own…only gets ugly.

2. We get to practice grace. We get to look like Jesus.

Luke 6:27-36 “But I say to you who listen: Love your enemies, do what is good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. If anyone hits you on the cheek, offer the other also. And if anyone takes away your coat, don’t hold back your shirt either. Give to everyone who asks you, and from someone who takes your things, don’t ask for them back. Just as you want others to do for you, do the same for them. If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them. If you do what is good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners do that. And if you lend to those from whom you expect to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners to be repaid in full. But love your enemies, do what is good, and lend, expecting nothing in return. Then your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High. For he is gracious to the ungrateful and evil. Be merciful, just as your Father also is merciful.”

You love those who are lovable? Great. Jesus says even the sinners do that. He’s not giving you a participation trophy for it.

If this were a church of only easy people (if those exist) and we were always only awesome to each other, not sure we could call it a loving church. Not in a way that gets Jesus excited anyway.

I’ll go so far as to say one key reason we NEED to be loving toward one another when it’s easy, and NEED to do our best to care for one another when we want to, is so that we are ready when it’s not.

Why would God send hurting and broken people to a church that only knew how to walk with those who never caused problems?

It would be awesome if there were another way to look like Jesus, but one of his hallmark character traits was radical, unfair, fully engaged forgiveness of those who did him harm.

These are the results of carrying one another’s burden.

Again, you can’t expect someone to carry your burdens. You can’t make them just deal with your sin because your burden is heavy.

But Jesus can ask that of us. Because Jesus did that for us.

What changes? - Grace, know one another, listen to one another…fruit of the Spirit that precedes this: peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, self-control, joy…love

Worship and prayer teams

It’s interesting that this call comes right after the description of the Spirit’s fruit in our lives.

With the descriptor: You who are spiritual. Because that’s what’s needed to carry burdens.

And when we do this right, the fruit is also descriptive of what we experience.

We get joy from and have peace with one another.

We practice patience.

Seeing our own sin first leads us to kindness and gentleness.

Not ignoring sin, but holding fast to people is faithfulness

And to do it all requires and develops self-control

And just like all our One Another priniciples, they come from and lead to love.

Pray