Bear ye One another's Burdens

Scripture

Galatians 6:2 KJV 1900

Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ.

Matthew 11:28 KJV 1900

Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

Bear Ye One Another’s Burdens

Our thought for tonight is very simple. There really isn’t a whole lot to add here, but I’ll do my best to be a good preacher and make this as unnecessarily long as possible.

There is a circumstance that occurs occasionally. A building which has been built in one location needs to move to another location. Now this is common for things like mobile homes and modular homes. These are either small enough to be transported whole by truck or divided into sections that can be. That is one way it can be done. But what about building build on site that need to be moved? The Amish have a solution. I wish to someday see this done, but Amish will occasionally pick up a barn and walk off with it! Now I don’t know about you but I cannot carry a barn. Neither can an Amish man, but 250 on the other hand can. I have no idea how often this happens, but just a few years ago in Ohio a farmer needed his barn moved and 250 others showed up, picked up the barn and walked it to where it needed to be, rotated it and set it down where is belonged.

How many times do we across barn sized problems in our life? Problems that we cannot cope with, that we cannot handle. Problems that are so far beyond the possible it looks like its all over. We cannot win, we cannot make it? For some perhaps not too often, and for others quite often it seems, but all of us will face barn sized problems at some point. We need to be prepared for it! We need to realize that we cannot bear our burdens on our own, and that neither can our neighbors!

Bear ye one another’s burdens. If that man who needed a barn moved had the year before cheated his neighbor out of a horse, or stolen from another, and generally been a curmudgeon do you think that they would have showed up to move his barn? Probably not. He likely was a good man of the community who treated others as he would like to be treated. If a neighbor needed something, he likely was fair and perhaps even generous, always ready to help. In this way he bore one anothers burdens and so when he had a barn to move they showed up to help.

Look around you. Do you see someone trying to carry a barn on their own? Go offer a helping hand, because it’s not going to be too long until your barn needs moved, and you can’t do it on your own.

And so fulfill the law of Christ the verse finishes. What does this mean? You mean it’s not just a nice thing to do? You mean its not just about casting your bread upon the water so it will come back to you? No indeed. The law of Christ is to love the Lord our God with our heart, soul, mind, and strength and our neighbor as ourself. You see, this is the law of Christ. Loving God is not enough, or perhaps more accurately not possible without loving our neighbor. So yes, its a good idea, yes helping others makes it more likely that they will help you in time of need, but yes also it is a matter of the law of Christ.

Rest in God

I read another verse at the outset of the sermon. Matthew 11:28 says “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”

A story is told from a time long since passed of a farmer heading to town on his wagon. He came across and older gentleman struggling under a heavy load. He had plenty of space in his wagon and invited the man to come on up. At first the man refused, saying his burden was too heavy and he didn’t want to bother anyone else with such a load. Finally the man convinced him to climb to the wagon.

A bit further down the road the farmer glanced back at the old man and noticed he had’t put his burden down! He asked the man why he was still carrying his load even in the wagon. The man replied, I am grateful to you for giving me a ride, it just wouldn't be neighborly of me to let you carry my load as well!

Now this is a silly story but I think we may all be guilty of this.

You see how many of us have a burden to bear, and so we bear it. As we continue on the road we come across another person bearing a load. We give a helping hand and now we find ourselves with our load and a bit of someone else’s load. You now bear your own burden, along with a bit of someone elses. And so it goes. We pick up a bit of everyone's burden and find ourselves overburdened with care. Our own care and our brothers care. We continue on in such a state because it is the law of Christ to bear one another’s burdens. What else are we supposed to do?

The Jesus comes along with a wagon capable to bear all the burdens. Since we consider it our duty to bear one another’s burdens perhaps we at first argue with His invitation to be carried by Him. But maybe we rationalize that we can let Jesus carry us so we jump on the wagon. Yet we continue to carry everyone elses burdens. We leave ours on Christ but in an effort to bear one another’s burden we won’t let that burden down. And so even though we are leaving our burden on Christ we remain overburdened with everyone else’s troubles.

Jesus does not call us to bear on another’s burdens ourselves. He calls us to bear one another’s burdens to Him! We cannot carry other’s barns any more than we can carry our own! Jesus can. Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest is the call. Not to bear one another’s burdens on our own, not to take on their pain and sorrow for ourselves, but to pass it to Christ! He is the one who bore our sin, our shame, our pain and our sorrow! His care does not stop at salvation. He did not just take our sins! If we come unto Him, He will give us rest! In fulfilling the law of Christ do not forget that His yoke is easy, his burden is light, not because things are easy, and troubles cease, but rather because he offers His strengh to bear the load. So bear one anothers burdens, not on your shoulders, bear them to Christ and so find rest and fulfill the law of Christ.