GOSPEL RELATIONSHIPS

What difference does the gospel make to your relationships?

How does it affect the way you look at yourself in terms of those around you; and how you look at others in terms of yourself?

The Gospel creates a whole new self-image. We take what we have, and what we are and offer it up to God as a sacrifice of gratitude for what He has done.

For Paul, it is never enough to simply teach doctrines and apply them to broad principles of conduct. He must always give ways to apply it to our lives, using concrete examples of what living out the doctrines and principles involves.

Paul’s burden has been that we should walk in the Spirit (5:16), and that we should keep in step with the Spirit (5:25)

Meaning we should look to the Spirit for guidance and strength as He directs us how to live.

To “become conceited”—to seek our own glory in relationships—means that, however close we are to someone else, our treatment of them must always be tinged with selfishness. The gospel undermines that—it enables us to live as “brothers” (6:1).

How do we see this work in Practice?

ILLUSTRATION:

A series of contemporary superhero movies present super bad guys who at times demonstrate a biblical view of sin but the wrong cure for our sin. These super-villains understand that human beings are flawed sinners, but their solution is almost always the same: wipe out every human being without mercy and without lifting a finger to redeem a fallen human race.

The Matrix - Agent Smith calls humanity "a virus." "Human beings are a disease, a cancer of this planet.

Batman 2005 - villain Ra's al Ghul, the leader of the League of Shadows, tells Batman: "Gotham's time has come. Like Constantinople or Rome before it the city has become a breeding ground for suffering and injustice. It is beyond saving and must be allowed to die.

The Dark Knight Rises, the bad guy Bane tells Batman that he has come to carry on the League of Shadows' mission in the wake of Ra's' death. Batman prevented their attempt in Batman Begins, but Bane has returned to finish the job by mercilessly wiping out Gotham.

CONNECTION: those who bring justice to the earth are without mercy or sorrow, and they do not offer redemption.

BIG IDEA: Bear the burdens of the one another’s and restore joy of their empty hearts.

Some of you wonder what you are supposed to do with your life. Here is a vocation that will bring you more satisfaction than if you became a millionaire ten times over: Develop the extraordinary skill for detecting the burdens of others and devote yourself daily to making them lighter.

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1.Restoring the fallen repairs the virus of self-reliance.

Pride, or self-exaltation, or self-reliance is the one virus that causes all the moral diseases of the world. This has been the case ever since Adam and Eve ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil because they wanted to be God instead of trust God. And it will be true until the final outburst of human pride is crushed at the battle of Armageddon. There is only one basic moral issue: how to overcome the relentless urge of the human heart to assert itself against the authority and grace of God.

If a doctor is going to address his medical students on a disease caused by a certain virus he will most likely address the virus that is causing the disease in every lecture.

Let’s get address the white elephant in the room. Pride and self-reliance are the workshop of Satan.

Exposing someones sin will be difficult but it does not mean that we should ignore it and walk the other way.

Most people have become the CEO of minding your own business!

Illustration:

It has become common in some evangelical circles to accuse other Christians of lacking in love because they take a firm stance on ethical, doctrinal, and practical issues.

Is it unloving to confront brothers who are not walking in the truth. What about Paul who earlier in Galatians confronted Peter. () Many will say this is arrogant and that no one is the owner of the truth. Others, however, understand that it is part of our biblical calling to examine all things and to keep what is right and reject what is false, wrong, and unjust.

To speak of love is not a guarantee of spirituality and truth. There are those who boast of loving but do not live a righteous life before God.

Biblical love disciplines, corrects, and always tells the truth. Therefore, those who get offended by the defense of the faith, the exposing of error, and the confrontation of untruths is not biblical love.

Lack of love would be letting people continue to be tricked and duped by the enemy into the error of sin and not at least try to show them their errors.

Who should confront the fallen?

Restoration: returning something or someone to it’s original state.

Restoring the fallen is done by the spiritually strong.

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

We will accept our responsibility, as Spirit-filled brothers, to help. Paul is speaking to “you who are spiritual” (v 1); that is, to those who “live by the Spirit” (5:16, 25).

This is not talking about some super spiritual elite Christians; he is saying to ordinary Christians: “If you follow the desires of the Spirit, you will do this.” This responsibility belongs to anyone who is trying to live a Christian life at all.

Restoring those who have fallen (v.1).

“Believers being caught in sin.”

A person who is sinning needs our help. Paul says, "Restore him." The word means, make things right. It's used for repairing nets that are torn (). Sin is a breakdown in the machinery of our life. It has to be repaired.

Gives the appearance of being taken by surprise as apposed to a deliberate pre-mediated act of sin.

The spiritual man would seek to restore the person in love while the legalist would exploit their brother.

Paul showing us how keeping in step with the Spirit transforms our relationships.

“The woman caught in adultery.” They are ‘found out’ before any repentance has taken place. This may be a situation where sin takes believers by surprise.’ In other words their sinful acts are unpremeditated. Temptation has suddenly taken hold of them, and they have yielded. Either way, there has been sin of sufficient seriousness for them to need the restorative ministry of a fellow believer.

NOTE: This woman was found out before any repentance has taken place. We are not to spend our time going around trying to dig up sin on someone just waiting for the to fall.

How are we to restore?

Restoring the fallen is always done with gentleness.

To “restore them gently”. The Greek word translated “restore” here is Katartizdo. This i s a medical term used for setting a dislocated bone back into place. A dislocated bone is extremely painful, because it is not in its designed, natural relationship to the other parts of the body. To put a bone back in place will inflict pain, but it is a healing pain. Our aim of confronting sin is to prompt a change of life and heart.

“Restore such a person”

Do we kick such a person out of the church? No. Pick him or her up. Help them to run better than they did before. Set their bones for them if they have been broken. Help put everything back into it’s proper place. When someone is caught in sin it is too often the habit to push them down - to cast them out and forget them all together. The spiritually minded person does not do this. “The spiritually minded person is always thinking how they can help restore this person.”

Gentleness will only come if we watch ourselves.

We will not be able to confront someone if we think we are not capable of similar or equal sin. If we do not feel we are capable of similar or equal sin. If we do feel we are above the person, our air of superiority will come through and we will destroy, not restore.

6:25 “Let us not become conceited, provoking one another envying one another.”

The Greek word translated “conceit” literally means “vain-glorious” or “empty honor”. This kind of conceit leads us to a need to prove our worth to ourselves and others. This then fixes our mind on comparing ourselves with others. When we feel better or more superior than others it puffs us up and makes us feel greater.

A Gospel-based self-image

The gospel works in us to apply the gospel to our self-perception and view of others. He creates a whole new self-image which is not based on comparison with others.

Restoring the fallen makes us bold and humble.

The gospel makes us neither self-confident or self-loathing, but both bold and humble. The Gospel is the only thing that addresses conceit. The gospel creates a new self-image in us, one of humility, it tells me that I am a sinner saved only by the grace of God alone.

It also emboldens me before anyone, telling me I am loved and honored by the only eyes in the universe that really counts.

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2. Bearing the Burdens of the one another’s repairs the hallow heart of self-reliance.

2.Bearing one another’s burdens changes the heart of our self-reliance.

In this way fulfill you fulfill the law of Christ. (6:2) Moses gave us the law that could change our hearts so that we would freely obey. Our pride and rebellion had yet to be conquered. Now Christ summons us to the law of His love that slays the dragon of our pride and self-reliance.

ILLUSTRATION:

In the original fairy tale version of The Wizard of Oz, the Tin Woodman had once been a real man who was in love with a beautiful maiden and dreamed of marrying her. The witch hated their love, so she cast a spell on him so that one by one his limbs had to be replaced with artificial tin limbs. The tin limbs allowed him to work like a machine. So with a heart of love for his maiden and arms that never tired, he seemed destined to win over the witch's spell.

But the Tin Man said, "I thought I had beaten the Wicked Witch then, and I worked harder than ever; but I little knew how cruel my enemy could be." The Wicked Witch made Tin Man's axe slip and cut himself in half, and though a thinner was able to fasten him back together again, alas, he had no heart … so that I lost all my love for the girl, and did not care whether I married her or not."

Most of you know the rest of the story: caught in a rainstorm, the Tin Man began to rust, remaining in that spot until Dorothy came all the way from Kansas to rescue him and begin his journey to Oz. In the book by Frank Baum, the Tin Man tells Dorothy, "During the year I stood there I had time to think that the greatest loss I had known was the loss of my heart. While I was in love I was the happiest man on earth; but no one can love who has not a heart, and so I am resolved to ask the Oz to give me one."

APPLICATION: "Notice there was a man who was once real and alive and in love. But after a series of blows, his humanity was reduced to efficiency. He became a sort of machine—a hollow man." Life has a way of doing the same thing to us.

*Carrying burdens is rarely convenient and takes up allot of time.

Illustration:

When you get a chance to be saved, you gotta grab it.

—Bear Grylls, popular star of the Discovery Channel's Man vs. Wild, in a commercial promoting the Alpha Course

Christians have burdens. The greatest of all, the burden of our guilt, has been taken away at the cross, but other burdens remain.

We learn from verse 2, however, that it is not in God’s will that we should be left to bear our burdens alone.

THE CHRISTIAN LIFE WAS NOT MEANT TO BE LIVED ALONE. (starts with the words “one another”.)

Nearly every page of the Bible declares that life works better with deep friendships. (community core value).

NOTE: The lone Ranger approach or the rugged individualist was never God’s intention for the Christian community.

How important is this? In the New Testament “One another” appears 100 times in 94 verses. 60% percent of those were written by Paul alone. One third of those deal with the unity of the church, and another third with love.

ILLUSTRATION:

A new study has found that the average person is holding onto 13 secrets, five of which they've never told a living soul. And it's not the secret itself that will haunt you—it's all the mental energy you spend thinking about it.

New research shows that some people actually feel physically heavier when they're burdened with a secret, and that extra "weight" can skew how you navigate your surroundings.

It is our duty as believers to help bear one another’s burdens (). When someone staggers, we help steady the load. If he is straining, we help bear the burden. And if he stumbles, we lift him up. Helping fellow believers carry the weight of their worldly troubles is one of the chief practical duties that ought to consume every Christian.

Of course, that concept is contrary to the drift of our culture, with secular society’s tendency to foster self-absorption. Our generation has developed an unhealthy obsession with entertainment; we are daily assaulted with a plethora of trivial diversions; and we tend to interact with one another in sound-bites or through faceless media. We live in crowded cities and over-populated neighborhoods; yet most individuals are more isolated than ever.

“Let your love be genuine, abhor what is evil and hold fast to what is good. Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor.

(WE should be stumbling over each other to try to get to someone we can show love and affection towards).

NOTE: Contemporary churches sometimes even seem to encourage the “me first” agenda of self-love rather than the “one another” commands of Scripture. As a result, we don’t bear one another’s burdens as we should.

In  he reminded them: “The whole law is fulfilled in one word: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’”

So What is a burden?

Quiet literally a burden is a load, a heavy load, too heavy for you to bear. We think of beast of burden, like donkey’s, mules, camels or oxen. They are all trained to carry a heavy load.

Anything that threatens to crush the joy of our faith—whether a tragedy that threatens to make us doubt God's goodness, or a sin that threatens to drag us into guilt and judgment.

BURDENS

Physical HealthDepression

Spurgeon wrote, “I could weep by the hour like a child, and yet I knew not what I wept for.” And, “I am the subject of depression so fearful that I hope none of you ever get to such extremes of wretchedness as I go to.”

Anxiety

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None of us are immune to anxiety. Not if we’re honest with ourselves. “Anxiety does not empty tomorrow of it’s sorrow, but only empties today of it’s strength.”

According to data from the National Institute of Mental Health, some 38 percent of girls ages 13 through 17, and 26 percent of boys, have an anxiety disorder.

25 “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? 31 Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.  34 “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

FEAR

Fear is a “sidekick” of anxiety. We may fear a medical diagnosis, the collapse of the stock market, the rejection of a friend, or a nuclear bomb in Iran. We fear things that we have no ability to control rather than trusting that God is in control.

What other emotional burdens? Anger? Hate? I don’t know what emotional burden you might have. But it can be a real weight. An obstacle to joy and peace. 

Money

Unemployment. Unexpected bills. A car or appliance that breaks down. When money is tight, even what some might consider to be a small occurrence can be devastating.

SIN: Sin can be a burden, and the guilt that may come with it. We can have brothers and sisters who get caught under the crushing weight of sin. Is it lust? Un-forgiveness? Coveting?

Placing 6:2 and 5:13–14 alongside each other shows us that to “serve one another in love” means to “carry each other’s burdens”. This brings the lofty concept of love down to earth.

We are not to let people carry their burdens alone. By characterizing the responsibilities and problems of life as “burdens”, Paul very vividly and practically teaches how a Christian relate to others.

We need people who, as a part of their responsibility in life, will carry the burdens and wounds of other people and be outraged by them.

You cannot help with a burden unless you come very close to the burdened person, standing virtually in their shoes, and putting your own strength under the burden so its weight is evenly distributed on both of you, lightening the load of the other.

So in the same way, a Christian must listen and understand, and physically, emotionally, spiritually, take up some of the burden with the other person.

“Law of Christ” means modeling our whole life on the example of Christ, motivated by grateful joy.

  The Parable of the Good Samaritan

25 And behold, a lawyer stood up to put him to the test, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” 26 He said to him, “What is written in the Law? How do you read it?” 27 And he answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.” 28 And he said to him, “You have answered correctly; do this, and you will live.”

29 But he, desiring to justify himself, said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” 30 Jesus replied, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among robbers, who stripped him and beat him and departed, leaving him half dead. 31 Now by chance a priest was going down that road, and when he saw him he passed by on the other side. 32 So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 33 But a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was, and when he saw him, he had compassion. 34 He went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he set him on his own animal and brought him to an inn and took care of him. 35 And the next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, ‘Take care of him, and whatever more you spend, I will repay you when I come back.’ 36 Which of these three, do you think, proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?” 37 He said, “The one who showed him mercy.” And Jesus said to him, “You go, and do likewise.”

So.....what does it mean to Bear?

Jesus is the quintessential burden-bearer, Jesus. Having born the burden of the law’s demands and judgment for us, you constantly beckon us… “Cast all your care upon me, for I care for you… Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” Hallelujah, and thank you.

He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed. [25] For you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.

Verse 2 could be summed up as: Bear others’ burdens, and by doing this follow in the footsteps of Christ, who bore yours.

One writer described "bearing" or "to bear" this way: “to take upon our shoulders as our own burdens, and thereby help him to bear; this includes, in some circumstances, the lightening of them; in others, their entire removal.”

Things we must remember when bearing burdens.

We must not fear the emotional messiness.

We must rely on God’s presence more than our words.

We must put aside our schedule’s and agenda’s.

We must accept the fact that the burden’s we bear may never be fully appreciated

we bear may never be fully appreciated

WHY DO WE BEAR BURDENS?

We bear others’ burdens because Christ 1st bore ours.

Jesus want’s those who have received mercy to be mercy givers.

How can we Share burdens?

Maybe it’s time?

Maybe it’s financial?

Maybe it’s something else? (If you are an expert in something you can lend your experience)

Maybe it’s prayer. Maybe it’s sharing in their tears

Maybe it’s a timely word of scripture.

Maybe it’s helping with children.

Maybe it’s sharing a meal. Sometime’s it’s sharing a word of encouragement at the right time.

Fulfillment of the Law is Love your Neighbor as Yourself.

The apostle continues in verse 3: For if any one thinks he is something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself. The implication seems to be that if we do not or will not bear one another’s burdens, it is because we think we are above it. We would not demean ourselves to such a thing; it would be beneath our dignity.

Opening Up Galatians Taking Heed to Ourselves (vv. 3–5)

The remedy? Certainly for one thing we need to remember that in and of ourselves—apart from God—we are nothing. We are all rebel sinners in whose flesh there dwells no good thing, who have nothing that has not been received as a free and undeserved gift, and who are only able to serve and glorify God because we are divinely enabled to do so.

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Carrying our own Load

Verse 5 means that God has given each of us a different set of difficulties and opportunities, a different set of weaknesses and gifts. These are our “load”—our responsibility before God.

NOTE: Many times the heavy lifting is left to the pastors and other few. This reminds us that it is arrogant to think that carrying burdens is not our responsibility as well.

Verse 5 means that God has given each of us a different set of difficulties and opportunities, a different set of weaknesses and gifts. These are our “load”—our responsibility before God.

Carrying our own load gives us immunity.

After you have pleaded and prayed with someone about their sin and they still continue in sin, that is a burden you are no longer called to bear. Let me release you of this when dealing with habitual sin in a believers life. You should not take the shame of someones sin upon yourself.

We cannot and should not take the responsibility for someone else s sin upon ourselves.

Carrying our own load leads us to personal examination.

We are not to compare ourselves with others. Instead, we must look at our particular tests and duties and respond to them obediently. If we see life in this way, we will judge our life each day against who we have been, and who we could have been.

“Reminds us that our conduct to others is governed by how we see ourselves. As we provoke and envy other people when we have self-conceit, we think we are something when we decline to bear their burdens.

The truth is we are not ‘something’; we are ‘nothing’. Especially when the Holy Spirit has opened our eyes to really see ourselves as we are, rebels against the God who made us in His image, deserving nothing at His hand but death and destruction. When we realize and remember this, we stop comparing ourselves favorably with other people.

CLOSING

1000 Illustrations for Preaching & Teaching Rescue

On May 23, 1939, the submarine Squalus, a five-million-dollar vessel, sank off Portsmouth, New Hampshire. The famed McCann rescue bell was used for the first time. Through this bell-shaped valve, men were able to reach and to rescue the thirty-three men trapped inside. When the rescue squad reached the stricken submarine, they tapped with metal on the hull in an effort to locate the sailors. The imprisoned men, answering in similar fashion, asked in the language of the Morse code, “Is there any hope?”

What opportunities has God given you to carry other’s burdens?

What burden’s of your own are you shouldering?