1 Series: One Another “Bear One Another’s Burdens” Galatians 6:1-5 Over the past few months we have been clearly reminded and continually called to love the Lord with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength. From that relationship being right, we are then enabled to love one another as ourselves. You can’t love God without loving others, and you can’t love others well without loving God. 1 John 4:19-21 says it best, “We love, because He first loved us. If someone says, ‘I love God,’ and hates his brother, he is a liar; for the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen. And this commandment we have from Him, that the one who loves God should love his brother also.” Loving God must be foundational in life if we are to love one another the way that God calls us to. It is also important to note, however, that loving one another looks very different than what the world tells us today. Much of what the world calls love is not love at all. A guy and a girl may be very attracted to one another and say, “I love you,” but that isn’t love. There may be attraction, desire, and even lust, but that isn’t love. Someone may make another person feel good about life and about themselves and say, “I love you,” but many times what they are really saying is, “I love the way you make me feel.” In other words, they are actually loving themselves. Today the world promotes self and self-pleasure as the ultimate goal in life. Do what you want. Date who you want. Be who you want to be. Live for your own pleasure, etc. None of that is true love. True love is selfless and sacrificial, faithful and true. True love promotes others, not self. True love builds up others, not self. True love seeks what edifies, not what is easy. True love endures, it doesn’t look for an escape. Much that we call “love” in the world today is completely exposed and found lacking when compared to the Godly love described in 1 Corinthians 13:4-8a, “Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails.” Perhaps you are sitting there thinking, “Yes, Pastor, that’s beautiful. I hear it at every wedding.” Please understand that the context of those verses is dealing specifically in our relationships with one another in the body of Christ. That entire chapter is divinely placed between two chapters that deal specifically with our relationship and our care for one another in the Church. God’s clear call is for us to love one another, which has practical, faithful, and selfless actions of service towards one another. We have learned many of these over the past two months, but today we come to one that is heavy – both literally and figuratively. Show Text I imagine that all of us have heard this expression before – we need to bear one another’s burdens. Before we dive into the details of this text, I believe that we need to hear this today. No Christian is called to be a lone ranger Christian. No Christian will be healthy and vibrant if they are walking the journey alone. I have known many who think they can do it alone, but the moment you believe that you can handle it, you are determining right then and there that you will eventually fail. Some 2 go it alone because they are proud and think they can. Some go it alone because they are embarrassed by their past. They think it is easier to keep people at a distance than to have to deal with their issues. Some go it alone because they have been hurt and simply will not forgive and choose to trust again. Some go it alone because they are immature and weak and don’t understand their own need. There are many reasons, but I am here to tell you that you need other believers in your life, and they need you. In the church, there is a reciprocal relationship. We need each other. There is another truth that stands out here, which is that we belong to each other. We are “members of one another.” In fact, just before God told us that wonderful description of love in 1 Corinthians 13, He said this in chapter 12:24b-27, “But God has so composed the body, giving more abundant honor to that member which lacked, so that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it. Now you are Christ’s body, and individually members of it.” All who belong to Jesus are members in His body, the Church, and because of this we are family members together. Again, we see this in Paul’s favorite description, “Brethren.” It’s his way of reminding us that we are connected together through Jesus. What does he say in verse 2? “Bear one another’s burdens.” This general principle is true – we all face and feel burdens and trials in life. James 1:12 and 1 Peter 1:6 remind us that we face “various trials” in life. It can be relational, financial, familial, physical, mental, occupational, etc. The Christian life doesn’t mean that we are protected from burdens, but it does mean that we have the Prince of Peace with us and partners around us to help us carry the burden. The calling is clear, “Bear one another’s burdens.” The word literally means “to shoulder.” This doesn’t mean that we can make people’s problems go away, or that we can or should do everything for someone, or that we swoop in to rescue people and strive to be their savior. However, it does mean that in the body of Christ, when one suffers, we all suffer. When one is in pain, we’re all in pain. When one grieves, we grieve with them. The point is that we are in the trenches with them and we are loving them, praying for them, supporting them, and helping them along the way. The pain may be great, and the burden may be heavy, but we can lighten the load as we shoulder it with them. Paul specifically says that this bearing of burdens proves something. It fulfills the law of Christ. What is that law? To love one another. John 15:12, 17, “This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you…This I command you, that you love one another.” This biblical principle of bearing one another’s burdens can stand on its own. However, it doesn’t. It is given right on the heels of Paul addressing the works of the flesh and the fruit of the Spirit. Paul lists a long list of works of the flesh in verses 19-21 of Galatians 5. Some legalistically read this list and then use it as their vetting process to determine who is or isn’t saved. Verse 21b clearly announces, “Those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.” Does this mean that a Christian will never do those things? Does this mean that Christians don’t mess up and do things that are wrong? Of course not. The key word here is “practice.” God is showing us that those who continually live in open, unrepentant sin prove that they do not belong to Jesus. This, however, doesn’t mean that a Christian never falls. In fact, it is in reference to the sinning Christian that Paul speaks in Galatians 6. What should we do when a brother or sister is living in sin against God? How should we treat them? How should we handle the situation? The world says, “It’s none of your business.” Our flesh says, “Stay out of it.” God says, “Bear one another’s burdens.” So, 3 how can we do this? What should this look like in our lives today? I want to address this in two ways: I. The Word for the Burden Sharers (vs. 1-2) This instruction to bear one another’s burdens is directly connected to the person being spoken of in verse 1. It is describing “anyone (who) is caught in any trespass.” This word “caught” does not mean that we are to be walking around, keeping an eye on each other, looking for trouble. God is not saying that we should try to catch people in what they are doing wrong. In fact, verses 4-5 instruct directly against this. When the Bible speaks of the person who is “caught,” the word literally means “to be overtaken by surprise.” It envisions someone who has been caught by a trap. **ILL: We have likely all seen movies of someone walking through the woods carelessly when suddenly they step and the net swallows them up, and they can’t escape. All they can do is cry for help, and hope that help comes.