Topic: Bear each other burden

TEXT: Galatian 6:1-5

Bear each other burden:
The troubles of this world are manifold and relentless. It’s not easy to stay so focused on heaven
that we remain unperturbed by the afflictions of earthly life. We’re commanded, of course, to set
our minds on things above, not on earthly things (Col. 3:2), but even the most committed
believer will testify that earthly trials sometimes obscure the heavenly perspective.
We worry. We grieve. We stumble. We strain under the toil of our daily labors. We feel the guilt
of our fallen condition. Meanwhile, we are assaulted with adversities of various kinds. Those are
just a few of the many worldly burdens that frequently keep our thoughts from rising to heaven.
And yet we are commanded repeatedly to “seek the things that are above” (Col. 3:1). We are
instructed to “look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen” (2 Cor. 4:18).
We must not allow the burdens of this life to divert our hearts from heaven.
How is that possible? When the load weighs us down and the troubles become too much for one
person to bear, pie-in-the-sky sentiments can sound very hollow.
But that is precisely why the church is so important. It is our duty as believers to help bear one
another’s burdens (Gal. 6:2). 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.
And let’s be honest — Reformed and evangelical churches nowadays often imitate the culture
precisely where we most need to confront and counteract its influence. As churches seek to
become bigger, flashier, and more technologically savvy, they usually tend to become more cold
and impersonal. 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.
Yet Paul made this duty a high priority. It was the centerpiece of his admonitions to the Galatian
churches. The first half (or more) of Galatians is a defense of justification by faith and a series of
arguments against the false teaching that threatened to place those churches in bondage to the
Law. In Galatians 5:14 he reminded them: “The whole law is fulfilled in one word: ‘You shall
love your neighbor as yourself.’”
How is that love best manifest? “Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of
Christ” (6:2).
The first and preeminent example of burden-bearing Paul mentions involves dealing with the
burden of another Christian’s sin. “If anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual
should restore him in a spirit of gentleness” (v. 1). That, of course, isn’t a different approach
from the steps of church discipline Jesus outlined in Matthew 18:15–17. It merely explains how
that process is to be carried out (gently and meekly), and it underscores the true goal (restoration,
not punishment or public rebuke per se).
In other words, the person restoring the sinning brother isn’t to approach him as if he were a
master over him but meekly — as one who is willing to help shoulder the burden so that the one
who has stumbled can get to his feet again.
Verse 2 then simply states the underlying principle as an imperative (“Bear one another’s
burdens”). Obviously, the precept applies to all kinds of burdens — not merely the burdens of
those who stumble into sin. When Paul suggests that burden-bearing “fulfill[s] the law of
Christ,” he makes it clear that he has the whole moral law in view. Every act of compassion and
self-sacrifice on behalf of our brethren is a practical means of displaying the love of Christ and
thereby fulfilling the moral demands of His law.
But the apostle clearly has in mind spiritual, emotional, and temperamental encumbrances — not
physical freight only. The burdens we need to help carry for one another include guilt, worry,
sorrow, anxiety, and all other similar loads.
Do you want to fulfill the moral requirements of the Law? Love your neighbor. How do you love
him? By bearing his burdens.
It’s interesting that Paul would emphasize this theme in an epistle written to confront people who
were falling into legalism. It’s as if he were saying, “You want to observe a law? Let it be the law
of Christ. If you have to impose burdens on yourselves, let it be through acts of love toward
your neighbor.”
If you will do that faithfully, your own burden won’t seem so heavy. Best of all, you

Our quiet presence during someone else’s time of pain says more than any words of advice ever
can. A grieving widow, for example, doesn’t need to hear our own tale of loss; she needs an arm
around her shoulder so she realizes that she is not alone.
Think about the times that we bring our burdens before the Lord in prayer. Simply experiencing
His presence lightens the weight we have been carrying. God’s response to our pain is a clear
demonstration of how important it is to make ourselves available and listen to our neighbors. No
matter how inadequate we might feel, we all can share a burden by spending time with a friend
who is enduring hardship.
The Holy Spirit will let us know when words are not necessary and when it’s the right moment to
speak. That oftentimes becomes our opportunity to share how the Lord has worked in our life
during a painful period. When we give the Holy Spirit total control, He will bring to mind
situations, emotions, and the ways God helped us. We can use those things to minister to others:
Hurting people grab onto kindred stories as if to a lifeline. It gives them hope to reason that since
the Lord shepherded one person through a valley of darkness, He will surely be faithful to do the
same for another.
Our Spirit-developed compassion may require us to give our burdened neighbor other types of
help—even material aid. It’s easy to pray for a friend or share our story with a church member,
but we cannot limit ourselves to those things. If we are willing to be used by our heavenly
Father, we must be open to His leading about how to offer assistance.
Bible in a Year: Proverbs 29-31
 Topic: Jesus bring salvation through suffering
Text: Hebrews 2:10-13
 The Purpose of Suffering and the Process of Salvation (1 Peter 3:17-22)

In category:
Why do we suffer? The Apostle Peter gives at least three reasons. The first is that
suffering may be a result of our own wrongdoing. In chapter 3, verse 17 of his first
letter Peter writes, “For it is better, if it is God’s will, that you suffer for doing well
than for doing evil.” From this we can see that not all suffering is God’s will. All
too often we do what is wrong and then blame God for the consequences. Each one
of us needs to ask the question, “Is my suffering a result of my own choice to do
what is wrong?”
But there is another reason or cause for suffering. It may be necessary for us to
suffer so that someone else may be reconciled to God. To illustrate this point Peter
gives the example of Christ. In verse 18 he writes, “Because Christ also suffered
for sins once, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring you to God...”
Just as Christ had to suffer in order to bring salvation to those who believe in Him,
it may be necessary for the followers of Jesus to suffer in order to take the message
of salvation to those who do not yet believe. The Apostle Paul puts it this way,
“But all things are of God, who reconciled us to himself through Jesus Christ, and
gave to us the ministry of reconciliation; namely, that God was in Christ
reconciling the world to himself, not reckoning to them their trespasses, and having
committed to us the word of reconciliation. We are therefore ambassadors on
behalf of Christ, as though God were entreating by us: we beg you on behalf of
Christ, be reconciled to God.” (2 Corinthians 5:18-20)

Before Peter discusses a third purpose in suffering he describes the process of

salvation. In verses 18 through 21 he writes of Christ, “...being put to death in the
flesh, but made alive in the spirit; in which he also went and preached to the spirits
in prison, who before were disobedient, when God waited patiently in the days of
Noah, while the ship was being built. In it, few, that is, eight souls, were saved
through water. This is a symbol of baptism, which now saves you—not the putting
away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God,
through the resurrection of Jesus Christ,”

It is important to note that both in the days of Noah and today the need for
salvation results from man’s disobedience. In describing Noah’s era Scripture says,
“Yahweh [that is, “The Lord”] saw that the wickedness of man was great in the
earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil
continually.” (Genesis 6:5) In regard to the days in which we are living God’s word
says, “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and
unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness...” (Romans
1:18) Man’s disobedience not only makes salvation necessary, disobedience also
prevents man from obtaining the salvation which is offered to him. Only eight
people, including Noah, obeyed by entering the ark and so were saved from the
flood. Today, it is only those who obey Christ who will be saved from the judgment
that God is bringing on mankind. Peter writes that “...God waited patiently in the
days of Noah...” Scripture tells us that God waited 120 years before sending the
flood. God is patiently waiting today as well for people to accept the forgiveness
He offers. In his second inspired letter Peter writes The Lord, “...is patient with us,
not wishing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.”
(2 Peter 3:9) Each one of us needs to ask ourselves whether we are presuming upon
God’s patience or whether we are being obedient to Christ.

What does Peter mean when he says that Christ “...also went and preached to the
spirits in prison, who before were disobedient...”? Some think that after Jesus died
on the cross He descended into hell and until His resurrection preached to the
condemned spirits there. But there is a more reasonable explanation. In chapter 1,
verses 10 through 12 Peter pointed out that the Spirit of Christ was in the prophets
and it was He that motivated them to speak. When Noah spoke to the people of his
generation, his words were actually the words of Christ. They were condemned
because they rejected Christ’s message which Noah revealed to them. We too will
be condemned if we reject Christ’s message.

Salvation
From Peter’s account we can learn the following about salvation: 1) Before
salvation can be granted, there must be a means of salvation. Noah could not be
saved from the flood until the ark had been built. In the same way, it is Jesus’ death
and resurrection that prepared the way for our salvation from sin. 2) Those that are
saved must have a faith that causes them to obey. Only those who believed Noah’s
message that the flood was coming obeyed the command to enter the ark. Only
those who believe Christ’s message obey Him. 3) There must be an agent of
salvation. In Noah’s time water not only destroyed the earth but lifted the ark
above the flood. In the same way the waters of baptism are the agent by which God
grants new spiritual life to the sinner. The apostle Paul writes, “Or don’t you know
that all we who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We
were buried therefore with him through baptism to death, that just like Christ was
raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we also might walk in
newness of life.” (Romans 6:3-4) There are many who disagree with this concept.
They say that baptism is not necessary for our salvation. But who are we to argue
with the Apostles Peter and Paul? Who are we to argue with the method our savior
chooses to save us? It is not our place to argue with Christ, but to humbly obey and
accept the salvation He offers. 4) Salvation not only looks to the future but also has
immediate benefits. The meaning of Peter’s phrase that is translated “...the answer
of a good conscience toward God...” is somewhat obscure. One thing that seems
clear, however, is that God grants those who are baptized into Christ a clear
conscience. 5) Salvation from sin is impossible apart from Christ’s resurrection
from the dead. The Apostle Paul writes, “If Christ has not been raised, your faith is
vain; you are still in your sins.” (1 Corinthians 15:17)

Christ’s suffering made our salvation possible. But it also brought a reward. In
verse 22 Peter writes, “...who is at the right hand of God, having gone into heaven,
angels and authorities and powers being made subject to him.”

Suffering.
'It became Him to make the Leader of their salvation perfect through sufferings.'—
Heb. ii. 10.
'Though He were a Son, yet learned He obedience by the things which He suffered;
and having been perfected, He became, unto all them that obey Him, the Author of
eternal salvation.'—Heb. V. 8, 9.
'But the word of the oath appointed a Son, perfected for evermore.'—Heb. vii. 28.
WE have here three passages in which we are taught that Jesus Christ Himself,
though He were the Son of God, had to be perfected. The first tells us that it was as
the Leader of our salvation that He was perfected; that it was God's work to perfect
Him; that there was a need-be for it; 'it became God' to do it; and that it was
through suffering the work was accomplished. The second, that the power of
suffering to perfect was, that in it He learned obedience to God's will; and that,
being thus perfected, He became the Author of eternal salvation to all who obey
Him. The third, that it is as the Son perfected for evermore that He is appointed
High Priest in the heavens.
The words open to us the inmost secret of Christian perfection. The Christian has
no other perfection than the perfection of Christ. The deeper his insight into the
character of his Lord, as having been made perfect by being brought into perfect
union with God's will through suffering and obedience, the more clearly will he
apprehend wherein that redemption which Christ came to bring really consists, and
what the path to its full enjoyment.
In Christ there was nothing of sinful defect or shortcoming. He was from His birth
the perfect One. And yet He needed to be perfected. There was that in His human
nature which needed to grow, to be strengthened and developed, and which could
only thus be perfected. He had to follow on, as, step by step, the will of God
opened up to Him, and in the midst of temptation and suffering to learn and prove
what it was at any cost to do that will alone. It is this Christ who is our Leader and
Forerunner, our High Priest and redeemer. And it is as this perfection of His, this
being made perfect through obedience to God's will, is revealed to us, that we shall
know fully what the redemption is He brings.
We learn to take Him as our example. Like Him we say, 'I am come, not to do my
own will, but the will of Him that sent me.' Who accept the will of God as the one
thing we have to live for and to live in. In every circumstance and trial we see and
bow to the will of God. We meet every providential appointment, in every ordinary
duty of daily life, as God's will. We pray to be filled with the knowledge of His
will, that we may enter into it in its fullness, that we may stand complete in all the
will of God. Whether we suffer or obey God's will, we sock to be perfected as the
Master was.
We not only take Christ as our example and law in the path of perfection, but as the
promise and pledge of what we are to be. All that Christ was and did as Substitute,
representative, Head and Saviour, is for us. All He does is in the power of the
endless life. This perfection of His is the perfection of His life, His way of living;
this life of His, perfected in obedience, is now ours. He gives us His own Spirit to
breathe, to work it in us. He is the Vine; we are the branches; the very mind and
disposition that was in Him on earth is communicated to us.
Yea, more; it is not only Christ in heaven who imparts to us somewhat of His
Spirit; Christ Himself comes to dwell in our heart: the Christ who was made
perfect through learning obedience. It is in this character that He reigns in heaven:
'He became obedient unto death; therefore God highly exalted Him.' It is in this
character that He dwells and rules in the heart. The real character, the essential
attribute of the life Christ lived on earth, and which He maintains in us, is this: a
will perfect with God, and ready at any cost to be perfected in all His will. It is this
character He imparts to His own: the perfection with which He was perfected in
learning obedience. As those who are perfect in Christ, who are perfect of heart
towards God, and are pressing on to be made perfect, let us live in the will of God,
our one desire to be even as He was, to do God's will, to stand perfect in all the will
of God.

4:48
TOPIC: Fairness in Buyer and Selling Property
TEXT: Levities 25:13-17