Bearing With One Another

Willie Shamabanse: Thank you, Dan, and thank you, Sarem, for that beautiful reading.

Willie Shamabanse: So before I begin with uh the sermon, let's go ahead and open with a word of prayer.

Willie Shamabanse: Lord, we are here today.

Willie Shamabanse: And thanks to you, we are here.

Willie Shamabanse: And thank you, Lord, that your Holy Spirit is here with us.

Willie Shamabanse: We ask you to abind to be in us.

Willie Shamabanse: Father, we ask you that you teach us your word.

Willie Shamabanse: Speak through through me today in your name.

Willie Shamabanse: Amen So I'll begin with a short uh story.

Willie Shamabanse: That I'm gonna share with you today.

Willie Shamabanse: There's a story about two friends

Willie Shamabanse: These two friends would meet quite often to go hiking.

Willie Shamabanse: On this beautiful day, the trail up Kamerback Mountain, which you all know in Phoenix.

Willie Shamabanse: was already glowing with the morning sun.

Willie Shamabanse: Meyer needed this hike

Willie Shamabanse: Meanwhile, her work inbox was a disaster, and her patience was running thin.

Willie Shamabanse: At the beginning of the trail, she met her longtime friend Leo

Willie Shamabanse: Usually she loved his mannerisms, but today everything seemed to be getting on her last nerve

Willie Shamabanse: He talked entirely too loudly, stopped to photograph every single blooming desert shrub, and then, as they started on the trail,

Willie Shamabanse: He complained that his laces kept coming untied.

Willie Shamabanse: With every delay

Willie Shamabanse: Maya's irritation seemed to be going through the roof.

Willie Shamabanse: He is so self-absorbed, she thought

Willie Shamabanse: And she would walk even faster.

Willie Shamabanse: Does he not see that I have a schedule to keep?

Willie Shamabanse: As they neared the Echo Canyon summit, Leo stepped on a loose rock and badly rolled his ankle.

Willie Shamabanse: Then quickly sat down, groaning in pain.

Willie Shamabanse: Instantly, Maya's irritation

Willie Shamabanse: Fled into a full-blown sigh.

Willie Shamabanse: But as she turned to finally snap at him, she stopped

Willie Shamabanse: Pale and biting his lip, Leo complained.

Willie Shamabanse: Leo did not complain, instead he forced an apologetic smile.

Willie Shamabanse: And said, I'm sorry, Maya.

Willie Shamabanse: I know you are busy.

Willie Shamabanse: You should probably go on ahead without me.

Willie Shamabanse: At that moment, something shifted in Maya.

Willie Shamabanse: She remembered how Leo

Willie Shamabanse: Had sat with her for hours, every single night, when her mother was in hospital

Willie Shamabanse: Listening to her cry, never rushing her to simply get over it

Willie Shamabanse: He was bearing with her heaviest grief.

Willie Shamabanse: And here she was, frustrated by a few loud stories.

Willie Shamabanse: And a loose shoelace.

Willie Shamabanse: Immediately Maya said to him, Don't worry, don't be don't be ridiculous, Leo.

Willie Shamabanse: Her frustration evaporating into thin air.

Willie Shamabanse: She took off her backpack, wrapped her arm around his waist

Willie Shamabanse: And offered her shoulder as a crutch, and said to him, We're in this together.

Willie Shamabanse: They took the descent painfully slow, step by agonizing step.

Willie Shamabanse: It took three times longer than she had planned.

Willie Shamabanse: But somewhere along the rocky switchbacks

Willie Shamabanse: They fell into a quiet rhythm of grace.

Willie Shamabanse: Meyer learnt that

Willie Shamabanse: Bearing with one another isn't making excuses for flaws.

Willie Shamabanse: It's about adjusting your pace to help someone carry theirs.

Willie Shamabanse: Bearing with one another is the title of my sermon this morning.

Willie Shamabanse: Bearing with one another means choosing patience and grace over frustration when someone's quirks, flaws, or mistakes test your limits.

Willie Shamabanse: It's an essential part of lasting relationships, community, and everyday life.

Willie Shamabanse: It isn't about ignoring deep wrongs.

Willie Shamabanse: It's about extending the same forgiveness and understanding you hope to receive.

Willie Shamabanse: And I would add it is about extending the same forgiveness and understanding you have received in the past, because we all have

Willie Shamabanse: How often do you find it genuinely difficult?

Willie Shamabanse: Genuinely difficult to put up with someone?

Willie Shamabanse: Let's be honest, relationships can be hard.

Willie Shamabanse: Whether it's a stubborn spouse, a frustrating co-worker, or a fellow believer

Willie Shamabanse: Who has wrapped us the wrong way?

Willie Shamabanse: We all face moments where relationships test our patience.

Willie Shamabanse: I'm glad I don't have a stubborn wife.

Willie Shamabanse: I had to say that.

Willie Shamabanse: Today we are exploring what it means to truly bear with one another and why Jesus makes that possible.

Willie Shamabanse: In the original Greek, the word bearwith implies patience, endurance, and being slow to anger.

Willie Shamabanse: It means not giving up when relationships get tough.

Willie Shamabanse: It means suspending a rightful demand.

Willie Shamabanse: out of consideration for someone else's weaknesses.

Willie Shamabanse: It means choosing not to attack

Willie Shamabanse: gossip or walk away in anger when we hurt.

Willie Shamabanse: It is the opposite of a cancer culture mentality

Willie Shamabanse: It means hanging in there, recognizing that everyone is flawed.

Willie Shamabanse: We can bear with others because Jesus bore with us

Willie Shamabanse: But if we rely on our own human strength, we run out of patience very quickly

Willie Shamabanse: The secret to this command, the Bible says, isn't gritt our teeth and trying harder.

Willie Shamabanse: It is looking at what Jesus did for us and asking for his strength to be able to do it.

Willie Shamabanse: Jesus bore the weight of our sins on the cross.

Willie Shamabanse: He constantly bears with our shortcomings our doubts

Willie Shamabanse: And our failures.

Willie Shamabanse: He sympathizes with our weaknesses.

Willie Shamabanse: And because Jesus bore our ultimate unpayable debt

Willie Shamabanse: We should be able to absorb the minor offenses and quirks of the people around us, shouldn't we?

Willie Shamabanse: We'll go ahead and up uh read a text.

Willie Shamabanse: It's from Ephesians 4, verse 2.

Ephesians 4:2

Willie Shamabanse: It will be on yeah, it's there on the on the screen

Willie Shamabanse: I'll read from the screen too.

Willie Shamabanse: I therefore, prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called

Willie Shamabanse: With all loneliness, loneliness and gentleness, with long suffering, bearing with one another in love.

Willie Shamabanse: So this was a letter to the Ephesians from Paul

Willie Shamabanse: So Ephesus was once a major center for the worship of Greek and Roman gods.

Willie Shamabanse: So the book of Ephesians is Paul's letter that encourages these new believers.

Willie Shamabanse: To abandon their former lifestyles.

Willie Shamabanse: Paul's core message

Willie Shamabanse: To this audience is that Gentiles and Jews are now on equal footing, tearing down the religious and social boundaries.

Willie Shamabanse: that previously divided them.

Willie Shamabanse: Unlike some of the letters to churches that Paul had written, he had never visited some of those churches.

Willie Shamabanse: Paul spent over two years ministering in Ephesus, meaning he had a relationship, deep connections, with many of the people there.

Willie Shamabanse: So he tells them in the second verse that you need to walk with loneliness and gentleness.

Willie Shamabanse: With long-suffering bearing with one another in love

Willie Shamabanse: That's the message for Mr.

Willie Shamabanse: Palms today.

Willie Shamabanse: That's the message for you and I.

Willie Shamabanse: So love requires to be completely humble

Willie Shamabanse: Gentle, patient, bearing with one another, which means patience is a choice that we make

Willie Shamabanse: When we understand what others are carrying, it's much easier to overlook their minor irritations.

Willie Shamabanse: So we adjust our expectations.

Willie Shamabanse: By extending patience, we foster deep real resilient relationships with

Willie Shamabanse: within us.

Willie Shamabanse: Bearing with one another stops minor irritations into escalating.

Willie Shamabanse: To major arguments by allowing space for human imperfection.

Willie Shamabanse: Couples, friends, coworkers who practice mutual forbearance build deeper trusts and psychological safety among them.

Willie Shamabanse: Letting go of petty grievances reduces personal stress, lowers anxiety, and promotes a more positive outlook.

Willie Shamabanse: So it helps with emotional well-being.

Willie Shamabanse: Bearing with others creates supportive environments

Willie Shamabanse: Where individuals feel accepted, encouraging a culture of empathy

Willie Shamabanse: Let us read another verse from the Bible.

Willie Shamabanse: Colossians 3, 13.

Willie Shamabanse: It's up there already.

Willie Shamabanse: And it says,

Willie Shamabanse: Bearing with one another and forgiving one another.

Willie Shamabanse: If anyone has a complaint against another, even as Christ forgave you

Willie Shamabanse: So you also must do.

Willie Shamabanse: Unlike Ephesus, Paul did not plant this church in Colossae.

Willie Shamabanse: He had never even visited this church before.

Willie Shamabanse: But when his friend visited him while he was imprisoned in Rome,

Willie Shamabanse: He reported to Paul the troubling new philosophies threatening the church there.

Willie Shamabanse: People had started to fall back into pagan worship.

Willie Shamabanse: So Paul wrote this letter to the Colossians.

Willie Shamabanse: To refute these ideas, he emphasized that Jesus Christ is fully divine

Willie Shamabanse: Supreme over creation and entirely sufficient for salvation.

Willie Shamabanse: In addition, Paul urged the Colossians to focus on spiritual matters

Willie Shamabanse: And maintain unity, encouraging them to clothe themselves in virtues like compassion, humility, and love for one another.

Willie Shamabanse: rather than following the man-made rules they had started following.

Willie Shamabanse: So what does Jesus teach us about this topic?

Willie Shamabanse: Jesus taught that forgiving others is absolute and unconditional.

Willie Shamabanse: Directly link our own forgiveness from God to how we forgive others.

Willie Shamabanse: We talked about this today in our class, and I'm sure a lot of you did.

Willie Shamabanse: He emphasized that holding on to resentment Holding on to irresentment

Willie Shamabanse: blocks spiritual peace and called for limitless grace toward those who wrong us.

Willie Shamabanse: That's a tough one, isn't it?

Willie Shamabanse: When asked if one should forgive seven times, Jesus replied, Seventy times seven.

Willie Shamabanse: Signifying that forgiveness should never have boundaries.

Willie Shamabanse: Jesus taught his followers to pray, forgive us our debts as we also forgive our debtors.

Willie Shamabanse: Linking the two directly.

Willie Shamabanse: In Matthew six, fourteen to fifteen

Willie Shamabanse: He says, For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly father will also forgive you.

Willie Shamabanse: But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will neither will your father forgive your trespasses.

Willie Shamabanse: There was quite some debate in our class when we're talking about that verse.

Willie Shamabanse: He states that if you do not forgive others, God will not forgive your trespasses.

Willie Shamabanse: This underscores the necessity of letting go of bitterness.

Willie Shamabanse: That's the main thing.

Willie Shamabanse: Jesus taught that if a brother repents, we must forgive them.

Willie Shamabanse: And why did he teach that?

Willie Shamabanse: It's because if we repent to God, we confess our sins, God will forgive us.

Willie Shamabanse: But he also urged us to pray and to bless our enemies who cause harm on us without remorse.

Willie Shamabanse: That's where difficulty that's where Christianity becomes difficult.

Willie Shamabanse: You we need to forgive people that have no remorse.

Willie Shamabanse: That's tough.

Willie Shamabanse: Ultimately, Jesus models this teaching through his own actions, demonstrating that forgiveness frees us from anger.

Willie Shamabanse: and mirrors the boundless mercy God showed humanity

Willie Shamabanse: So we've learned that bearing with one another is an active and not passive behavior.

Willie Shamabanse: It means holding up

Willie Shamabanse: Supporting and remaining firm under the weight of others' imperfections, ensuring they do not struggle alone

Willie Shamabanse: It is not just about putting up with them.

Willie Shamabanse: It's doing so in love, with humility, gentleness, and patience.

Willie Shamabanse: As believers, we are called to bear with others because Jesus bore the ultimate burden of sin and continues to be patient with us.

Willie Shamabanse: Sometimes people will confuse bearing with one another and bearing one with one another's burdens.

Willie Shamabanse: While they go hand in hand, they look a little different in practice.

Willie Shamabanse: Let's explore the differences a little bit, even if bearing one another's burdens can be a separate topic altogether.

Willie Shamabanse: But I thought I should include it here.

Willie Shamabanse: So we talked about bearing with one another.

Willie Shamabanse: It's about active sacrificial help during major crises or tragedies.

Willie Shamabanse: In contrast,

Willie Shamabanse: Bearing with one another is a daily relationship, relational discipline focused on patience, grace, and overlooking minor faults and personalities

Willie Shamabanse: That cause clashes in unity.

Willie Shamabanse: Understanding this distinction helps clarify these two biblical principles.

Willie Shamabanse: Let's go over them again.

Willie Shamabanse: Bearing another's burdens.

Willie Shamabanse: This refers to helping someone carry an overwhelming weight they cannot handle alone.

Willie Shamabanse: A good example is severe illness, grief, or a major life tragedy.

Willie Shamabanse: Stepping in to help through prayer, financial support, physical labor, or simply being there to listen.

Willie Shamabanse: And share the emotional weight.

Willie Shamabanse: In fact, in Galossians two, Galossians six verse two

Willie Shamabanse: Paul says, bear one another's burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ.

Willie Shamabanse: So Paul encourages believers that by carrying each other's burdens, we fulfill the law of Christ.

Willie Shamabanse: And bearing with one another is a relational tolerance and grace.

Willie Shamabanse: It deals with a day-to-day friction, annoying habits, differences of opinion, and minor offenses.

Willie Shamabanse: So what do we do in that case?

Willie Shamabanse: We exercise patience, maintain peace, and choose not to retaliate or hold grudges.

Willie Shamabanse: With someone who frustrates you.

Willie Shamabanse: So in the scriptures we've read, the Bible instructs Christians to forgive and maintain unity.

Willie Shamabanse: Through love.

Willie Shamabanse: Isn't that what we need to do in church?

Willie Shamabanse: So what's the goal?

Willie Shamabanse: It is to maintain the unity of spirit, allowing the church to thrive, even when personalities clash.

Willie Shamabanse: And how do we do that?

Willie Shamabanse: Before reacting to someone's mistakes

Willie Shamabanse: Let's remember our own flaws and the grace we have received from God.

Willie Shamabanse: We should seek understanding.

Willie Shamabanse: Look beneath the surface.

Willie Shamabanse: Recognize that a difficult or irritable person

Willie Shamabanse: is often hurting and needs compassion rather than judgment

Willie Shamabanse: We maintain the bond of peace by putting away malice and arguments deliberately

Willie Shamabanse: Choosing to protect the unity of the community over proving to be right.

Willie Shamabanse: We also need to recognize who used to in in closing I'll I I'll say this

Willie Shamabanse: As a church, I'm going to ask everyone to uh write down these few bullet points.

Willie Shamabanse: I want us to recognize who you struggle with to get along and intentionally choose to show them grace.

Willie Shamabanse: Ask God to help you see these individuals.

Willie Shamabanse: Ask God to help you see these individuals from His perspective.

Willie Shamabanse: Pray for those who irritate you by name for at least two weeks to transform your relationship with them.

Willie Shamabanse: And continuously forgive faults immediately.

Willie Shamabanse: This is my prayer for this morning to you all.

Willie Shamabanse: I'll wait for the the the singing group to come up come up before we close with a prayer.