Galatians: Bearing One Another’s Burdens

Galatians 6:1-10

INTRODUCTION: Although the North American Indians had no written alphabet before they met the white man, their language was anything but primitive. The vocabulary of many Indian nations was as large as that of their French and English exploiters, and often far more eloquent. Compare the coldness of “friend” with “one-who-carries-my-sorrows-on-his-back.”

We are to learn to be a friend “one who-carries my sorrows on his back.” This is how the Christian is free from the law; he is called to shoulder responsibility for the welfare of those around him in specific ways.

Freedom from the law as a means to finding acceptance with God. Yet, we are called to fulfill the law of Christ, which is in essence the same law. We fulfill the law of Christ by loving our neighbor and doing good through the power of the Holy Spirit.

THESIS We ought to love and serve each other by the power of God’s Spirit.

First, we are to love and serve those who have fallen into sin (Verse 1)

· Luke 6:31 "And just as you want people to treat you, treat them in the same way.

· caught (proleômphtheô) in a sin – The thought is that a believer is attempting to outrun the sin but is caught by it anyway…Like a lion chasing its pray and running it down….

· How do you know that the person who sinned is not just one who ran into the sin itself rather than running away and being caught??? BECAUSE, like an antelope that is caught by the lion and gets the opportunity to run away.

· The Legalist is always ready to stone the one who is caught:

· John 8:3-5 The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group [4] and said to Jesus, "Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. [5] In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?"

· The Christian is more ready to “Restore” (katartizete, a word used in secular Gr. for setting broken bones and in the NT for mending fishing nets).

· This is the responsibility of those that are “mature” in the faith – With Gentleness, and the humility of seeing that any one of us could fall.

APPLICATION: We are not to neglect discipline; this is how church discipline is to be administered. We should always have a heart toward restoration rather than harsh rebuke. Look around you, would someone struggling with sin be able to expect a merciful understanding toward you. We need maturity; we need the power of the Spirit.

SECONDLY, we are to love and serve those who are burdened (Verse 2-5)

· We are called upon to a ministry of “encouragement.” That is to put courage into someone…

· People are hurting more deeply than most of us know.

· Being part of the Church means being in a family relationship with one another…

· Helping someone may begin with words…Proverbs 18:21 The tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit.

· Proverbs 12:25 An anxious heart weighs a man down, but a kind word cheers him up.

· Proverbs 25:11 A word aptly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver.

· BUT THIS GOES BEYOND WORDS ALONE…James 1:23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his natural face in a mirror;

· How does this verse (verse 2) fit with verse 5…Galatians 6:5 For each one shall bear his own load.

· Two different Greek words for “load” In verse 2 it is baros, bar'-os; (through the notion of going down; compare Greek 899 (bathos)); weight; in the N.T. only figurative a load, SOMETHING WHICH WEIGHS US DOWN….IN VERSE 5 it is phortion, for-tee'-on; ; an invoice (as part of freight), i.e. (figurative) a task or service :- burden.

· Paul is saying that we should help one another in times of oppressive hardships…But we all have a responsibility to take care of our own affairs responsibly, including our responsibility to minister to the welfare of others…

APPLICATION: You and I have a mission, to take care of others. This is why our church with its deacons and missions committee is working to address needs among us and in this community.

· The chief hindrance to realizing this is our own selfishness and pride ( Verses 3 and 4)

· We must deal a death blow to our conceit, an attitude that breeds intolerance of error in others and causes one to think he is
above failure.

Stephen Moore, in his poem entitled "The Second Mile," states it this way:

Stern Duty said, "Go walk a mile

And help thy brother bear his load.

I walked reluctant, but meanwhile,

My heart grew soft with help bestowed.

Then Love said, "Go another mile."

I went, and Duty spoke no more,

But Love arose and with a smile

Took all the burden that I bore.

'Tis ever thus when Duty calls;

If we spring quickly to obey,

Love comes, and whatsoe'er befalls,

We're glad to help another day.

The second mile we walk with joy;

Heaven's peace goes with us on the road,

So let us all our powers employ

To help our brother bear life's load."

Being a burden bearer may begin as a duty but it emerges as a joyful task.

THIRDLY, We are to love and serve those who minister the Word to us (Verse 6)

· Somewhat awkward for me to address this here but it is the part of the Word.

· One responsibility of each believer is to shoulder the financial support of the pastor-teachers in the church.

· Richard Baxter said, “To be a pastor a man must set his heart on the life to come and regard the matters of eternal life above all the affairs of this present life. Above the trifles of this world, he must appreciate in some measure the inestimable riches of glory.”

· Pastor are not live a hack of a life…1 Tim. 5:18 For the Scripture says, "You shall not muzzle the ox while he is threshing," and "The laborer is worthy of his wages."

· If we prize the Word of God, then we will support the teaching and preaching of the Word well.

· This is a hard work…it is not an easy job at all…Not an eight hour day at all…

The wife of a close pastor friend of ours enjoys telling how she awoke one night to find her husband asleep on his elbows and knees at the foot of the bed. His arms were cupped before him as if he was embracing the base of a tree, and he was muttering. “George! What on earth are you doing?” she cried. “Shhh,” he answered, still asleep. “I’m holding a pyramid of marbles together, and if I move, it’s going to tumble down…” A classic pastor’s dream! First, because it was the subconscious revelation of a pressured parson. Second, because the pyramid of marbles is an apt metaphor for a pastor’s work.

· What Paul says in verses 7-8 about sowing and reaping is especially applicable to paying the pastor, as God’s reprehensive. But in all our service…Whither tithes and offerings or in encouraging the overburdened.

· God is not mocked… No man can snub (mykteôrizetai, lit., “turn
up the nose at”) God.

Application: I am thankful for the kind way this church has supported me through the years. This support is an expression of our maturity in the faith as Christians.

LASTLY, We love and serve all men for Christ’s sake (Verse 10)

· When Jesus fed the 5,000, both saved and unsaved participated

· 1 Tim. 6:18 Instruct them to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share,

· Christian social responsibility, but it should be noted that it is addressed to individual believers.

· So, we have responsibility to do good to all.

CONCLUSION

We ought to love and serve each other by the power of God’s Spirit.

Are you a “friend” or are you “one-who-carries-my-sorrows-on-his-back.”

First, we are to love and serve those who have fallen into sin (Verse 1)

SECONDLY, we are to love and serve those who are burdened (Verse 2-5)

THIRDLY, We are to love and serve those who minister the Word to us (Verse 6)

LASTLY, We love and serve all men for Christ’s sake (Verse 10)

What starts out as a duty, becomes an act of love, and a joy.