Bear One Another’s Burdens

Mom: Suffers alone and in silence. No one has sympathy for Mom when she is cooking and doing dishes all alone. Often we’ve all finished our meals before Mom has even begun. Mom is responsible for herself.

Jab 3 (1 Minute)

Mom: In a world where fathers are so often not present, or just so absorbed with work that they leave spiritual leadership in the home to Mom, she is the one who pushes the family to tithe and support the church. She’s the one to push the family to go to church and get deep-rooted. She’s the one to drop the pastor an encouraging note. Moms take responsibility for their pastors and for the churches.

If all of these things describe your mother or your wife, but don’t describe you this morning, then today’s message is for you. God cares how we treat one another.

Galatians 6:1-6 (2 Minutes)

Galatians 6:1–6 NASB95

Brethren, even if anyone is caught in any trespass, you who are spiritual, restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness; each one looking to yourself, so that you too will not be tempted. Bear one another’s burdens, and thereby fulfill the law of Christ. For if anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself. But each one must examine his own work, and then he will have reason for boasting in regard to himself alone, and not in regard to another. For each one will bear his own load. The one who is taught the word is to share all good things with the one who teaches him.

EXPLANATION (15 minutes) Why?

1) Christians are responsible for each other. (V. 1-2)

A. Bear One another’s burdens (2). This is a biblical requirement.

a. Caught in trespass- Sin.

b. You Who are Spiritual- in context, refers to all Christians. This isn’t a special category of Christians. Paul has just said in Chapter 5 that those who belong to Christ are in the Spirit and bear fruit of the Spirit.

*Manner of Bearing Burdens*

i. Be Gentle.

ii. Be self-aware- temptation could be coming your way.

iii. Be practical. It might not just be prayer Paul is referencing.

B. You are not above falling. If a brother or sister in Christ succumbed to temptation and fell, you can too.

Transition statement: D-Day. If a soldier gets shot, we pick them up and carry them to safety because 1) We are responsible for them. 2) We’d want someone to grab us and get us to safety if we get shot, and that is a very real possibility.

2) Christians are responsible for themselves. (V. 3-5)

A. V3- Don’t take the “pride” in yourself that comes when you don’t know yourself well.

a. Ie. Don’t take credit for your own accomplishments without recognizing your complete dependence on God.

B. V4- Pride should be based in accurate, self-reflection- not based on comparing yourself with others.

a. Ie. Check the pulse and examine yourself. Do your works measure up to the Gospel? Paul isn’t opposed to works; he’s simply opposed to believing that works can make you righteous. However, there will absolutely be works in the life of a believer.

b. There will be works of the flesh (Galatians 5:19), and there will be works of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22).

Galatians 5:19 (NASB95)

Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality,

Galatians 5:22 (NASB95)

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,

Is there fruit on the tree?

C. V5- Why does Paul ask this? Because on the day of judgement you will have to answer for yourself.

What Paul is getting at is quite simple: Don’t compare yourself to others in order to feel better about yourself and take pride in how great you are. Rather, examine yourself to see if the fruit you bear actually reflects that Christ is in your heart. If your life is consistent with God being in your life, take pride in that, because we will all stand before God at judgement and give an account for our own actions. Let’s be able to stand before Him one day and say with pride, “My life was a godly life because your Spirit was at work in my life and everyone around me could see that I truly was filled with the Spirit.”

Transition Statement: Does this self-reliance then mean that its every man for himself? No. Paul began this section by imploring us of our mandate to restore those who fall and to bear those burdens with them. However, now we see that we are to support them, but not compare ourselves to them since we will all give a personal account at judgement.

Paul now shifts. He is still speaking about how we are to treat fellow believers, but in a different way. 1)Here’s how you treat Christians who have fallen into sin. 2) Here’s how you regard yourself around other Christians. 3) Here’s how you are to treat those who are teaching and ministering.

3) Christians are responsible for their teachers and ministers. (V. 6)

A. We aren’t really sure why Paul included this section here, and it can seem slightly out of place. It seems that there was an issue in the churches of Galatia where they were not supporting their pastors and missionaries either with prayer support, financial support, moral support—I don’t know. Paul doesn’t get specific here, he just says that they were to share “all good things.”

a. It kind of seems like Paul throws this in as an addendum. Sort of like, “Restore Christians who fall. Love on them. Take Pride in what God is doing in your life and not who you are in comparison to others. And while I’m at it, start taking care of your pastors.”

b. This explanation agrees with what both Paul and Christ taught.

i. In Luke 10:7, Jesus taught that a laborer was worthy of His wages, and this was in the context of His disciples doing ministry and accepting when people took care of them. This is why it isn’t highway robbery when you pay a minister to do weddings and funerals etc. They are laboring for the Kingdom, and they are worthy of their wages. They aren’t just trying to make money off of you.

Luke 10:7 NASB95

“Stay in that house, eating and drinking what they give you; for the laborer is worthy of his wages. Do not keep moving from house to house.

ii. In 1 Cor. 9:11-14, Paul identifies that ministers of the Gospel were directed by Christ to get their living from preaching the Gospel. There was an expectation that since they were sowing spiritual seed into their congregations, that they should be able to reap material reward from that congregation.

1 Corinthians 9:11–14 NASB95

If we sowed spiritual things in you, is it too much if we reap material things from you? If others share the right over you, do we not more? Nevertheless, we did not use this right, but we endure all things so that we will cause no hindrance to the gospel of Christ. Do you not know that those who perform sacred services eat the food of the temple, and those who attend regularly to the altar have their share from the altar? So also the Lord directed those who proclaim the gospel to get their living from the gospel.

1. Paul voluntarily chose to not accept that material reward. However, the tradeoff was that Paul was not a full-time minister of the Gospel. He owned a business where he made and sold tents for money. He did this because he recognized that if abused, ‘pastors making money from being pastors’ could hinder the gospel.

a. It doesn’t take long when we look at pastors with private jets, mansions, and Lamborghini’s, for us to see why Paul was worried.

b. There is a middle ground in all things, and it is important that there is full accountability in church finances etc. but understand this is not a ‘modern church thing’ to pay a pastor, and it isn’t a money grab by greedy pastors either. It is the way Christ set up His church.

2. So, there is biblical precedent for two things here: 1) Paying your pastor to be your pastor. Christ mandated that a Pastor would make His living by pastoring you. He shouldn’t have to feel guilty accepting your money, and you shouldn’t feel apprehensive about giving your tithe. 2) If your pastor cannot make a living by pastoring, he will need to work outside of the church to provide for himself and his family, but he probably won’t be able to pastor in a full-time capacity if that’s the case.

Transition statement: I’m not going to walk us through a systematic, theological approach to giving tithe and offerings, that’s not what this message is. I’m only talking about this at all because Paul felt like there were three things that needed to be addressed here. 1) How we treat Christians caught in sin, 2) How we are to view ourselves in light of other Christians, and 3) How we are to care for those who are teaching us the Gospel.

The importance of all three of these things is highlighted in the very next passage where Paul simply states, “God is not mocked. What a man sows, that will he also reap.”

APPLICATION (10 Minutes) How?

God cares how you treat other Christians.

1. God wants us to be responsible for one another and to bear each other’s burdens when we fall into sin.

I’ve watched my mom get brutalized by pursuing, in love, people who turn from God and begin to hate her. As we said in the beginning, this is the mark of an amazing mother.

Are you willing to bear peoples’ burdens when they turn on you? Will you pursue them, in love, anyway?

2. God cares how we view ourselves and how we compare ourselves to other Christians. We are responsible for our own actions and will give an account to Him at judgement.

I’ve also watched my mother stand strong in her faith, in her love for others, and in passionately pursuing the right things even though everyone around her fell away. Friends turned from God and her, family cut her off, and immense pressure to go a different was put on her. people who used to walk hand in hand with her began to pressure her to allow certain things in the home that were detrimental. Churches turned their backs on us and for years we did ministry on the Native reservations in South Dakota, completely cut off from all church support. Yet, I watched her and my father persist in their own personal faith and in the discipleship of their family. They never stopped loving other people and ministering to other people, and they never backed off on their own spiritual growth.

When everyone abandons you, and when the church fails you, will you persist in your faith, in your love, and in your personal Spiritual growth?

3. God also cares how we treat our teachers and ministers. Take care of them as they care for you. The bottom line is that God cares about how we treat one another.

I’ve watched my mother faithfully tithe 10% of our family’s income, not matter how poor we were. I watched them support, in prayer and in offerings the minister’s and teachers who fed them spiritually with absolute consistency, always trusting that God would provide when they gave Him His portion.

Do you view tithing your local church, and supporting you pastors and teachers with prayer and encouragement as thing that you’ll get to when things are going well? Or are you radical in sharing ALL good things with those who teach you?

Call to Action

It should not just be our mothers and wives that exhibit these characteristics. God calls on all of us this morning to tell us that we are responsible for other Christians, we are responsible for ourselves, and we are responsible for our teachers.

I would call upon you this week to be radical in how you support other Christians, and bear their burdens with them even when they fall into sin.

I would call upon you take responsibility for your own Christian walk regardless of what happens around you, and to take pride in What God is doing in your life, and look for opportunities to share what He has done for you.

Finally, I would call upon you to continue to financially support your teachers and ministers, prayerfully support them, and encourage them.

Bear One Another’s Burdens

INTRODUCTION (5 minutes) What?

Jab 1 (1 Minute)

Jab 2 (1 Minute)