Freedom is Here: A Study of Galatians | Donovan Rillion | Bearing One Another's Burdens

We've been in a series for a few weeks now titled

Freedom is Here where we've been exploring the

book, well really the letter that the Apostle

Paul wrote to the church in Galatia. This new

group of Christians that are struggling with

some things and what he writes in this letter

is essentially freedom is not something you earn,

it's not something you deserve, but it is something

that is freely given through Christ. That's the

only way you get it. It's through Christ. It's

freedom to love. It's a freedom to serve, a freedom

to care for others, a freedom to walk by the

Spirit and in step with the Spirit instead of

being driven by the flesh. And in today's passage,

Paul shows us that what that kind of Spirit -led,

other -centered life actually looks like. And

so our passage this morning is Galatians 6, verses

Galatians 6:1–10

1 -10. Six chapters in Paul's letter to the Galatians.

So we are almost done. Just a few more days and

then we'll be finished with this series on Galatians.

When Christ sets you free, you don't walk alone.

You walk together. I want you to imagine for

a moment that you and a group of friends find

a treasure chest. You're walking around and you

stumble upon a lump in the ground and you dig

a little bit and you see this treasure chest

in it. You finally get it out from the hole and

it's full. It's really heavy. And you can only

assume that there's some really nice things in

this treasure chest. There's some prized possessions

and maybe some gold and some crowns and jewels

and things that if you were to get access to

them would change your life and the rest of the

people in your group's life forever. And so you

grab this chest and you pull it out of the hole

and you realize that it's locked. And you can't

get it unlocked. So you and your friends, you

do some research and you find some details about

this very treasure chest. And what you find is

that there's only one person in the world that

can unlock this treasure chest. And so you look

up and you find where that person is. Well, they're

a couple of countries away. They're on an entirely

different continent. So you and your friends,

you figure out or you decide that you're going

to. take the treasure chest to this locksmith

so that he can unlock it and get access to this

treasure. So you guys, you each grab a handle

and you start walking down the road and you're

carrying it and somebody gets a cramp. And so

everybody has to kind of shift their weight and

maybe grab an extra handle because that person

with the cramp can't carry their portion of the

weight. And so you keep walking and eventually

that person recovers enough and they pick up

their slack and now you're walking some more

and you're walking and then somebody's shoulder

starts to hurt. And so now everybody has to divert

their attention and their energy to sharing the

load for that person. And you keep walking and

now somebody is dehydrated so they need to take

a break. So everybody picks up their slack and

this just continues and continues and continues

until eventually you get to... The locksmith.

See, the rest of the group doesn't just leave

somebody behind and set the treasure down. They

keep carrying. They shift the weight a little

bit and they grab an extra piece of handle and

they do what they need to do so that we can all

keep walking to carry the treasure because in

this treasure chest is life -changing material.

It's the type of stuff that will set up your

family for generations. And so you keep bearing

the load. That's the picture Paul is painting

here in Galatians 6. What Paul is calling us

to is this life of a long walk toward the eternal

treasure that Christ has promised us. But along

the way, as we walk this journey of life together,

we're going to have some difficulties. We're

going to have some things pop up that make it

hard for us to carry our portion of the weight.

And the truth that we have to hold on to today

is that we carry each other's burdens because

we're walking together with a purpose for a prize

that we all want to share in. And that's how

we get to Galatians 6, verses 1 -10. We're going

Galatians 6:1–10

to read through the passage, and then we'll continue

in this lesson. Starting in verse 1, Paul writes,

Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression,

you who are spiritual should restore him in a

spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself

lest you too be tempted. Bear one another's burdens

and so fulfill the law of Christ. For if anyone

thinks he is something when he is nothing, he

deceives himself. But let each one test his own

work, and then his reason to boast will be in

himself alone and not in his neighbor. For each

will have to bear his own load. Let the one who

is taught the word share all good things with

the one who teaches. Do not be deceived. God

is not mocked. For whatever one sows, that will

he also reap. For the one who sows to his own

flesh will from the flesh reap corruption. But

the one who sows to the Spirit will from the

Spirit reap eternal life. And let us not grow

weary of doing good. For in due season we will

reap if we do not give up. So then, as we have

opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and

especially to those who are of the household

of faith. So there in verse 1, the word caught

doesn't mean like I caught you red -handed or

caught with your hand in the cookie jar. The

word caught there is it's trapped. It's an entanglement.

It's like somebody getting stuck in a net. And

so when you see somebody in sin, the fleshly

response is to say, you got to cut them off.

They're doing the wrong thing. We got to get

rid of them or we got to call them out and we

got to make an example of them or we've got to

cancel them because they're doing things that

we disagree with or they're saying things that

we don't like. And so we catch somebody in sin,

in a transgression, and the human response is,

get rid of them. If they did wrong, if they wronged

me, Get rid of them. But the Spirit says. What

Paul says is, you who are spiritual. The Spirit

says, restore them. And Paul tells us how to

restore them. He says, do it with gentleness.

A spirit of gentleness. See, we live in an age

where everything is about putting people on blast.

If they did wrong or they messed up or they said

something bad, they said something we disagreed

with, we put it all over Facebook and we make

an example of them. We make a mockery of them.

We joke about them and we make memes about them.

But what Paul says is if you catch them doing

wrong, don't make a joke of them and don't cut

them off, don't throw them out, but restore them

with the spirit of gentleness. That's one of

the fruits of the spirit that we talked about

last week. opposite of what the human response

is. Warren Wiersbe says in his book, Be Free,

nothing reveals the wickedness of legalism better

than the way the legalists treat those who have

sinned. And we can replace the word legalism

with nothing reveals the wickedness of being

human better than the way the humans treat those

who have sinned. Because we know exactly what

that looks like, right? We've seen it. We've

seen it over the last 10 years. Well, I say the

last 10 years because that's how long I've been

an adult. Over the last 10 years, I've seen some

really ugly treatment of people who look and

think and act differently than we do. People

that maybe are in the wrong, maybe have been

in sin, and we've treated them awfully. And I'm

saying we just as in a general sense as this

is how humans have been behaving. But what Paul

is calling us to, what Jesus has always called

his followers to, is not to act like humans.

It's to act like God. And we reveal our wickedness

in the way we treat those who sin differently

than us. And that hits hard, doesn't it? Because

the world loves to bash failures. But Jesus came

to heal sinners. fix something and you used a

little too much force. I'm really bad about this.

If I've got to screw something on, I'm going

to screw it on as tight as possible. Or if I've

got to hammer something in, I'm going to just

smash it as hard as I can because I want to make

sure it's good. It's tight, right? But when you

try to fix something and you use a little bit

too much force, if it's a screw, you may snap

the screw or you may strip it. You break it.

And what Paul warns against here in Galatians

6 is don't try to fix something harshly. Don't

try to fix something with as much force as you

can, because if you do that, you're going to

break it. Maybe you have kids and your kids are

adults now. And you know that some of the moments

in your life and raising them, you were a little

too harsh. The other night, Easton, I was putting

Easton to bed and I can't remember what I said

to him. But he said, Daddy. why do you and mommy

always yell at us? The first response was, I

don't yell at you at all. They don't want to

yell at them for saying that. But I just had

to stop and think. And my response was, well,

buddy, because you're never listening. And I

got to make sure you hear me. But there's a truth

there, right? That we yell at people and we hit

people and we bash them over the head with scripture

sometimes. And what it does is it pushes them

away and it breaks them. Now, everybody has a

podcast these days. And the number one thing

that comes up on my feed of podcasts is people

that grew up in church that no longer want to

be a part of church because of the way the church

raised them. And what they're saying is, is I

wasn't raised with gentleness. I wasn't corrected

with gentleness. I was beat over the head with

scripture. And beat over the head with tradition.

And I don't want to be a Christian that does

that. I don't want to do that to my kids. I don't

want to do that to your kids. I don't want to

do that to you. When I see somebody caught in

sin. When I see somebody trapped. I want to restore

them with gentleness. And I hope that is the

case for all of us. Because that's what the gospel.

That is what the Apostle Paul is calling us to.

And so we look at. These people that are damaged.

We look at these people that are hurt, that have

slipped into sin. And what I want you to hear

this morning is when someone is damaged, gentleness

restores so much better than harshness because

harshness shatters. It breaks people. It pushes

them away. And now you hear so many people that

are 25, 30, 35, or even adults that say, I will

never set foot in a church again. Or I will never

speak to my parents again. Or I'll never associate

with those people again because of the way they

treated me when I was in the wrong. And they'll

admit that maybe they were in the wrong. They'll

admit that maybe they thought a little bit different

than they should have. But they weren't restored

gently. And they were broken because of it. And

so then we get to the second half of verse 1

where Paul says, Keep watch on yourself lest

you be tempted to sin. You see, because we do

get tempted to restore people harshly. And that

can lead us into sin. But there's also some more

there. See, when you reach down to lift somebody

else up, Paul is saying watch your footing so

that you don't fall off the cliff too. Be careful

because that same sin that trapped them or that

tripped them could also trip you. And so if you

reach down and you figure, okay, I'm going to

save the alcoholic by going to the bar and sitting

down with the alcoholic, and then you find yourself

becoming an alcoholic. Be careful. Know yourself.

Know your limits. Watch your footing so that

if you go to try to save the person caught in

sin, you don't find yourself there too. But there's

also another way that this could be. The person

that you reach down to save, that you restore,

the person that you're trying to help fix and

that you're trying to get out of sin, that person

could very well be the person that 10 years from

now saves you. that reaches down and pulls you

up. You never know what's going to happen from

you trying to restore someone. So be careful.

Don't allow them to pull you down, but also make

sure you do it in a way that one day when you're

in sin, they think back on the way you restored

them and they say, I got to help them. I have

to because that's how they treated me when I

was lost. And I believe that's why Paul goes

on in the passage by saying, well, what he says

in verses 2 and 3, and this is the heart of the

passage, and so I want us to really hone in on

this. So read it, let it marinate for a little

bit. Verse 2, bear one another's burdens and

so fulfill the law of Christ. That's the heartbeat

of Christian community. That's what this is about.

This is not about us singing songs together.

It's not about you listening to me. It's not

about you going to a Bible class. That's great.

That stuff is important. You need that. But what

Paul says is to fulfill the law of Christ, you

help each other. You bear each other's burdens.

The law of Christ is very simple. You look at

a passage like John 13, verse 34, where Christ

John 13:34

says, love one another as I have loved you. That

is what we have been called to do. It's to lift

each other up when we're falling. It's to carry

each other when we can't keep going. It's to

make sure that we are all getting to the destination

where the treasure will be revealed. The old

law was complex. Have you ever read Leviticus?

You ever read the Old Testament? I mean, it can

be, it is the death nail in every person's yearly

Bible reading plan. I saw a tweet the other day.

A guy said, I'm going to start reading the Bible

for the first time. Where should I start? And

everybody, well, one person said Revelation.

I was like, you're crazy. But everybody was like,

you start in Genesis. You start at the beginning.

Wrong. Start in the Gospels. Because all that

stuff is confusing, it's complex, and it can

really shut some people down. It's hard to grasp.

But also, the law of the flesh is destructive.

It leads us into sin. It leads us away from God.

What we learned last week when we were talking

about the fruit of the Spirit was it opposes

the Spirit. It opposes God. My natural wants

and desires are not God's natural wants and desires.

It leads to death. But the law of Christ is simple

and it's life -giving. And if you've ever given

your life to Christ, if you have striven to live

a life for Christ, to live a life in step with

the Spirit, you know what I mean when I say it's

life -giving. It brings joy. It brings peace.

Whereas trying to make sure I get every single

rule right and check every mark and dot every

I and cross every T, that can be headache inducing.

And it can be the very thing that pushes me away.

But if I will just submit my life to Christ,

I have life. To bear one another's burdens means

to carry the heavy stuff together. The grief,

the failures, the anxieties, the addictions.

It means when I see my brother unable to keep

going, I'm picking him up. When I see my sister

struggling to make it through the day, I pick

her up. I carry some weight for her. You were

never meant to carry all of those things by yourself.

You were never meant to carry the hardships of

life by yourself. And neither were your brothers

and sisters. When we carry one another's burdens,

we are living out the gospel. Because Jesus,

he carried all of our burdens. He took all of

our sin. And he's gone to heaven to prepare a

place for us where failure... Sorrow, addiction,

grief, all of those things, they don't exist

anymore. Jesus is preparing a home where our

burdens are lifted forever. And when we say,

Father, let your kingdom come, what we're saying

is, Father, help us to do that now. Help us to

make this space, make this place, make these

people a people that don't have to bear life's

burdens on their own. Let us build a place. that

is reminiscent of the kingdom that you are going

to bring. So we go and we bear one another's

burdens. And as we get into verse 3, Paul gives

a bit of a warning for those who may not exactly

get it because the idea of helping each other

out isn't easy. Because again, our flesh, our

human desire is to do for self. It's to pick

up my own load. It's to help myself. It's to

feed my own needs. But what Paul says is if anyone

thinks he's something when he's nothing, and

here's the newsflash for all of us, we are all

nothing. He deceives himself. If I were to put

that in simple terms, don't think you're too

good to help. Don't think you're above getting

your hands dirty. Don't think you're above getting

in the weeds with your brothers and sisters and

getting out of the rut. Don't think you're bigger

than the team. And not only don't think you're

too good to help, but also don't think you're

too good for help. Because I got to tell you,

I would not be standing here today if I thought

I was too good for help. We wouldn't make it.

The church isn't supposed to be this museum or

this club for saints. The church was meant to

be a hospital for sinners. It was meant to be

this place where sick people... filled the pews,

or chairs. It was meant to be a place where broken

people are supposed to live, where broken people

come to be mended. This is the place where God

wants to do His best healing. And we all have

a part to play in the operation. Just imagine

a doctor's office. And all the people that go

into making that doctor's office run smoothly,

you've got the receptionist, you've got the nurse,

you've got the techs, you've got the cleaning

people. I mean, you've got all these people that

go into making sure this doctor's office can

do what a doctor's office is supposed to do.

And that's the church. We aren't all the surgeon.

We're not all the nurse. But we all have a part

to play in making sure that when broken people

come in this building, they get fixed. This is

the place where God wants to do His healing.

So we can't fool ourselves by thinking that we're

too good, that we're too important. This is why

it's important to be attentive to ourselves and

to those around us. This is what Paul says in

verse 4 about that attentiveness. He says, Let

each one test his own work, for each will have

to bear his own load. Now Paul is not contradicting

himself. The first time I read this I was like,

wait, he just said bear one another's burdens.

But now he's saying you have to carry your own

load. He's not contradicting himself. What Paul

is doing here is he's contrasting this shared

weight versus the personal responsibility. Because

we all have our own personal responsibility.

We've got the things that we're responsible for.

But there is a shared burden. There's a shared

load. The word there in verse 2 for burden. actually

refers to something that's too heavy for one

person to carry. So go back to our treasure chest

analogy. It's something that I cannot carry on

my own, and neither can you, no matter how strong

you think you are. But the word for load in verse

5 refers to something more like a backpack. Now,

we've all gone to school, some of us more than

others, and we've all carried a backpack. Now

there are some days where that backpack gets

pretty heavy, right? Any of you ever have teachers

that made you bring every textbook to class?

No? Okay, good. Neither have I. But I've seen

it. I've seen people that had to carry every

textbook in their backpack. And it's a heavy

deal. But they could still carry it. So you have

this idea of this treasure chest that's too big,

too massive, too weighty for one person to carry.

But then you also have a backpack. That one person

absolutely can carry even on its worst day. So

yes, we do carry one another's burdens. But we

are all also responsible for our own walk with

God. I can't walk your walk for you. I can walk

your walk with you. I absolutely can walk your

walk with you and you can walk with me. But I

can't walk it for you. I mean, you've got to

do some stuff here too. It's kind of like in

a marriage, you know, everybody says you both

have to give 100%. Wrong. Not everybody can do

that. Some days I've got 10 and Eliza's got 90.

Some days she's got 10 and I've got 50 and then

we're in trouble. And that's where marriage counseling

comes in. No, seriously, we can't do it all.

We've got to share some load, but we do have

to give something. I can't give zero. If I give

0 % and Eliza's always giving 100, guess where

Eliza's going to be? Not with me. We've got to

give something. So we all have a part to play,

but we can't do it all. I want you to think of

it this way. A soldier will carry his own pack.

A soldier has his own weight to bear. But if

a fellow soldier gets wounded, what's going to

happen? They're going to pick him up and carry

him to the finish. They're going to pick that

pack up, they're going to carry the soldier,

and they're going to make sure he gets where

he needs to go. And that's what we do as followers

of Christ. And Paul says, let each one test his

own work. That word test is like to examine,

to look very closely, to very deeply look into,

to make sure I'm doing what I can, to make sure

I'm carrying my load. So it's to say, don't be

lazy. Don't just sit idly by while everybody

else carries it for you. Look closely. We live

in a culture obsessed with comparison. Social

media, the news, TV, competitions, envy. But

Paul says, don't test your neighbor. Stop worrying

about what your neighbor looks like. Stop worrying

about what they got. But look at yourself. Test

yourself. Take responsibility for your own growth.

For your own spiritual growth. And so now we

kind of move into a bit of a separate section.

But still connected in Paul's letter, starting

here in verse 6. Let the one who has taught the

word share all good things with the one who teaches.

Paul's basically saying, pay the preacher. I'm

joking. Joking. I don't want to spend a lot of

time on this because it's not the point. But

it is important. Paul is making a practical point.

Support those who feed you spiritually. Now,

that's not just the preacher. It's the elders.

It's the deacons. It's the teachers. It's the

volunteers. It's the church. Support the work

of the church because this is where you come

to get healing. This is where you come to get

teaching. This is where you come to be fed. So

support those who feed you spiritually. Not because

we deserve it. We haven't done anything special.

You haven't done anything special. But because

it's right. Because when you invest in kingdom

work, And kingdom work can now continue happening

when you are sowing seeds. You are then sowing

seeds into eternal soil. And Paul warns us to

not take this truth for granted. Don't ignore

it. Here's what he says. Don't be deceived. Paul

likes to use that phrase, don't be deceived.

Basically, don't fool yourself. Don't be deceived.

God is not mocked. For whatever one sows, that

will he also reap. That's a universal principle.

You plant something in the garden, you take care

of it, you water it. If you've got a green thumb,

it grows. If you don't, you're me. You make sure

what you plant, you pour into, it is going to

grow. What you sow, you reap. You can't plant

corn and expect to grow peaches. What you sow,

you reap. And so when it comes to the kingdom,

we are sowing into. Kingdom work. And if we want

to see souls saved, if we want to see the kingdom

come and be established here on this earth, we've

got to sow more than what we have been. If we

sow selfishness, we'll reap emptiness. If we

sow generosity, we'll reap abundance. Do you

see how this works? What you put in, you get

out. That's what Paul says as he continues in

verse 8. For the one who sows to his own flesh

will from the flesh reap corruption. But the

one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit

reap eternal life. I want to live forever. And

I don't want to be corrupted. Corruption is brokenness.

Corruption is weakness. Corruption is sickness.

I don't want that. I want abundant life. I want

eternal life. And so what I have to do is I have

to sow. to the spirit, not the flesh. You cannot

reap the fruit of the spirit if you never plant

in the soil of the spirit. If all I'm doing is

just pouring out selfishness and pouring out

apathy and pouring out envy and anger and all

of these fruits of the flesh, I will never bear

the fruit of the spirit and I'll never taste

abundant and eternal life. And here's the best

part though. When we sow to God, when we give

Him our time, when we give Him our energy, our

talents, our resources, God multiplies it. He

turns those small seeds into these eternal massive

harvests. But sometimes, you know this, sowing

into other people, sowing into relationships,

sowing into other things besides ourselves, it

can be tiresome, can't it? It can be very tiresome.

It's not natural for us. It's not the human strong

suit. Remember, the spirit and the flesh oppose

each other. They don't work together. And so

the flesh says, pour into yourself. And that's

easy. It's easy to pour into ourselves. Now,

the fruit it bears doesn't taste good, but it's

easy to pour into ourselves. The fruit of the

spirit, it's a little bit harder. But the fruit

that it bears tastes so much better. And that's

how... This all works. Paul is saying, don't

be discouraged. In fact, he gives us some encouragement

here in verse 9. Let us not grow weary of doing

good, for in due season we will reap if we do

not give up. I was driving the other day and

I was looking at the leaves and everybody's like,

oh, the leaves are so pretty. It took them a

little bit longer to get here this year and everything.

And I'm just thinking. You endure the hot summer

even though it's not hot here. So y 'all got

to stop complaining about the heat. It's not

hot here. But you endure the heat of the summer

and the pain of the heat and the sun bearing

down on you. You endure that for this weather

that we've got right now. And for this pretty

scenery that we've got around us right now, you

endure it because you know better days are coming.

And that's Paul's encouragement to the tired

elder or deacon. That's Paul's encouragement

to the discouraged parent. That's his encouragement

to the volunteer who feels unseen or to the person

who feels like they've been doing everything

they can, but they just can't get it all right.

Paul says, don't. grow weary. Don't give up.

Don't let weariness steal your joy because the

seed you planted, it may not have sprouted yet.

It may not be bearing fruit yet, but harvest

time is coming. So just hold on a few more days.

Just a few more days. Here's how Paul ties it

all together. So then, as we have opportunity,

let us do good. To everyone. I want to highlight

that word there because I don't think we really

comprehend that sometimes. Everyone. There's

no qualifiers there. There's no dividers, no

descriptors. Everyone. You learn that vocabulary

word very early on in life. Everybody. Everyone.

And especially to those who are of the household

of faith. So do good to everybody. Make sure

you take care of everybody. Treat them well.

Make sure that when they see you, they see and

they feel and they taste the fruit of the Spirit.

Everybody. And especially those that are part

of the family of God. This freedom that we've

been given, it's a freedom from the flesh. Because

again, the flesh is selfish. And the flesh is

envious. It's self -serving and self -seeking.

We're freed from that. We're not bound by those

chains anymore. It's a freedom from that. It's

a freedom to do good to other people, to bless

believers and unbelievers alike. It's to make

the gospel, the good news of Christ, visible

through the way that we live and the way that

we love. I want you to go back to that treasure

chest illustration. You found the treasure. You

carried it together. Along the way, some got

tired. Some got hurt. Some stumbled. But you

never dropped. You carried it together until

you reached the locksmith. And when you opened

it, when those locks were undone and that chest

was open, you see a beautiful sight that you

know will change your life and those that you

interact with forever. We carry the weight of

this life together. We bear each other's burdens.

We lift one another up when we fall. We invest

in each other and in each other's ministries,

each other's lives. We keep doing good even when

it's hard, even when we don't feel like it, even

when it doesn't feel good for us. All until one

day when Christ returns and the treasure chest

is open, we get to see this beautiful home that

Jesus is bringing to us where we get to live

with him. Forever. Where we get to sit at the

Father's table and we get to enjoy a meal so,

so good that no one has ever tasted before. When

we get to have a life and experience a life that

is not full of sorrow, it's not full of hurt.

In fact, those things don't exist there. So we

bear one another's burdens and we keep pressing

on so that one day we get to experience that

together. So right now, I want you to think,

who do you know that's caught in sin, that's

trapped, that they've slipped off the road? Maybe

instead of walking away from them, maybe instead

of cutting them off, maybe instead of trying

to cancel them, maybe God's calling you to walk

with them. In a spirit of gentleness. So that

you can help guide them back onto the path that

God has laid out for us. Ask yourself, whose

burden could you help carry? Is there somebody

among us that you know is struggling that you

could do a little bit of extra lifting? You could

carry some of their load. You may not be able

to carry all of it, but you can carry some of

it. Maybe it's somebody in your small group.

Maybe it's somebody in your Bible class. Maybe

it's somebody that you work with. I don't know

who it is, but who do you know that's got a burden

that you can help carry? Or maybe you're the

person that's under the burden, that you're struggling

to carry it today. Maybe you're the person that

slipped off the path and you're caught in sin.

I don't know where you are or who you know that

needs the good news. That needs a little help

down the road. But what I do know is we all know

somebody. Even if that somebody is us. And if

that somebody is you or if you have someone that

you want to pray for. That you know you could

help bear the load. Or you know this church family

could help bear the load. So that we can all

see that prize together. We're inviting you now

to share that burden with us today as we stand.