Sharing Our Burdens & Blessings part 1

Introduction

One of the greatest books I’ve ever read (outside of the Bible) is Francis Schaeffer’s How Should We Then Live? In it, Schaeffer contrasts a biblical worldview with the rise of humanism. His argument is that basing a society on the Bible leads to freedom without chaos, whereas humanism leads to fragmentation, despair and alienation, and governmental tyranny (particularly seen in totalitarianism and authoritarianism).

One quote I particularly appreciate is this: “It seems that there are only two alternatives in the natural flow of events: first, imposed order or, second, our society once again affirming that base which gave freedom without chaos in the first place—God’s revelation in the Bible and his revelation through Christ.”

We see in the world around us this imposed order growing stronger and stronger. It’s incumbent on the church to be that beacon of “freedom without chaos”. But, we will never be if we aren’t walking by the Spirit.

That’s what Paul charged the churches of Galatia with and he continues through his letter to the Galatians to call us to the same. But what does that look like in practice? That will be the focus on the rest of our exploration into this letter.

Body: Galatians 6:1-5

Having laid out the call to walk by the spirit and not to be entrapped by the works of the flesh, Paul now will answer the question: What is a Christ-following church all about?

His answer in this section is: A church is to be a Christian community that walks by the Spirit.

We do this by sharing one another’s burdens and blessings.

He begins with burden sharing.

Caught in any transgression...

Trapped or exposed?

Most likely exposed, but regardless, the point is a believer who is practicing the works of the flesh that Paul just articulated.

I could imagine the question came to Paul, “Okay, but what if someone finds themselves giving into a temptation like those you just listed? Are they going to lose their standing with God? Will He destroy them? Are we to treat them similarly to the Judaizers?”

Remember, Paul was likely dealing with the claim that he was selling cheap grace...

You who are spiritual...

Instead of casting the sinner out, those who are spiritually mature should seek restoration with the sinning member.

By those “who are spiritual” Paul is likely pointing to those who are displaying the fruit of the Spirit in their lives.

A person walking by the Spirit isn’t a legalist or a harsh fault-finder.

In fact, quiet the opposite. A truly Spirit-led person is compassionate to those who are caught in the grip of sin because they know the dangers and they know the freedom that comes with walking by the Spirit.

Francis Schaeffer: “There is nothing more ugly than an orthodoxy without understand or without compassion.”

I often say, the easiest job in a church is the church critic...

In fact, part of spiritual growth is striving to love others a Christ Jesus loved others.

Jude 20–23 (ESV)

But you, beloved, building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life. And have mercy on those who doubt; save others by snatching them out of the fire; to others show mercy with fear, hating even the garment stained by the flesh.

We see here an dual emphasis: showing mercy and showing urgency.

Mercy is vital for us to help those caught in sin, but it’s also urgent. (Snatching someone out of the fire!)

Restore him...

The goal must always be restoration.

Church discipline is a sticky subject...

But the goal of church discipline is restoration: a person’s walk with Jesus is restored, his walk with the church is restored, and even his walk with people outside the church can potentially be restored.

The term itself in Greek means to correct and repair.

It carries with it the idea of mending or repairing something that was broken.

This is why the aim of church discipline should always be restorative, never punitive.

How do we practice church discipline?

Matthew 18:15–20 (ESV)

“If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother. But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses. If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. And if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector. Truly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. Again I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.”

How does this have anything to do with burden sharing?

Many of our burdens are directly linked to sin; our sin or someone else’s sin.

The church as a whole is burdened when one of the members is caught in sin.

Within this same section, Paul tells the mature believers to bear one another’s burdens. This should be understood as both the burden he’s already spoke of (sin) but can a should be broadened out to any burdens we are struggling with as believers.

Philippians 2:4 ESV

Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.

Romans 15:1 ESV

We who are strong have an obligation to bear with the failings of the weak, and not to please ourselves.

John 13:34 ESV

A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.

1 Thessalonians 5:14 ESV

And we urge you, brothers, admonish the idle, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with them all.

Ephesians 4:2 ESV

with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love,

What is the law of Christ that we are fulfilling by bearing with one another?

Love your neighbor as yourself.

How do we go about sharing one another’s burdens?

Burden sharing requires gentleness (v. 1)

When approaching someone who is caught in sin, love, not judgment is the key.

God’s Word judges our actions. People need to experience our concern for them balanced with our love for them.

This is particularly challenging today because most people have the attitude that any suggestion of wrongdoing on their part is a deep and abiding wound. That no one has the right to question what we do. For too many, even within the church, we are ready, willing and able to be offended at anything someone might say to us that doesn’t affirm us.

Thus, learning to come gently, in love is vital.

This doesn’t mean, however, that we refuse to confront people either.

The modern church is struggling in many ways. One of the greatest struggles is that we don’t restore one another, instead we ignore one another’s sin, hoping someone else will say something or the problem will go away.

Spoiler alert: that doesn’t work! In fact, things just get worse.

The key is not ignoring sin in the camp, it’s approaching people gently and respectfully.

Additionally, it’s also a call to be teachable. Restoration takes people who are willing to say, “I need to walk by the Spirit and not by the flesh, and I need other believers to keep me on track with that.”

I believe this is what the church lacks today as much as anything!

Burden sharing requires caution (v. 1)

Paul tells us here to “Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted.”

This means that we need to be aware that the sin we are trying to caution others about can just as easily catch us as well.

This is why Paul calls for those who are spiritual to restore people. Someone wrestling with the works of the flesh is not likely to give biblical advice and he or she could just as easily fall for temptation.

This is why we need to set up boundaries for ourselves.

We also need to know our weaknesses.

Finally, ministry partners are vital in this respect.

Burden sharing requires humility (vv. 3-4)

Paul’s warning here is against pride.

We can very easily fall into the trap, when we see someone else who is caught in sin, to start comparing ourselves.

We are pretty good fruit inspectors when it comes to others!

But, even from our beginning as a human race, when Cain was plotting to kill Abel, God gave him this warning:

Genesis 4:7 ESV

If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is contrary to you, but you must rule over it.”

Or think about the parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector...

Humility is the call to see ourselves from God’s perspective, not our own.

What is God’s perspective? We are sinners, saved by grace. We are His most precious creation, but a creation, nonetheless. We are the one part of creation that sparked God’s proclamation that creation itself was very good, and yet, we are deeply flawed and as much as we might try, we tend to fall short more than we hit the mark.

When our eyes are firmly fixed on the majesty of God and our heart remains in awe of Him, then we can begin to truly start approaching humility.

Burden sharing requires mindfulness (vv. 4-5)

When I say mindfulness, what I mean is that we are self-aware enough to recognize that we have our own flaws and weaknesses that we too must battle against. Therefore, when we approach another about his or her sin, we need to consider how we might want someone else to approach us if we were caught in sin.

This means that we are constantly asking ourselves the question, “Do I see the works of the flesh in my life, the fruit of the Spirit, or a little of both?”

Paul’s caution here is against comparison. We are never to compare our spiritual walk with another in order to build ourselves up.

Instead, we need to care more about the other person’s burdens then how we look.

How does God measure us? By His purposes for us as individuals.

In John 21, Jesus after He has risen from the dead reinstates Peter after Peter denied Jesus. But after that, there is this fascinating interaction:

John 21:20–22 (ESV)

Peter turned and saw the disciple whom Jesus loved following them, the one who also had leaned back against him during the supper and had said, “Lord, who is it that is going to betray you?” When Peter saw him, he said to Jesus, “Lord, what about this man?” Jesus said to him, “If it is my will that he remain until I come, what is that to you? You follow me!”

One final thought:

Many people, upon hearing this message might ask the question, “How is this anyone else’s business?” Or they might make the statement, “What I do is my business, none of yours.”

Why is that attitude incorrect?

Because the law of Christ is to love one another. It is not loving to allow our brothers and sisters in Christ to get burdened with a load of sin.

If our hearts are not moved by the burdens of our brothers and sisters in Christ, then we are not truly fulfilling the law of Christ.

And that attitude isn’t one of a person walking by the Spirit, but someone caught in the works of the flesh.