Galatians | Gospel Relationships (January 28th, 2018) - Mike Armstrong

Alright, well, if you would please grab your Bibles now and turn them to Galatians chapter 5.

Galatians 5 · chapter mention

Hard to believe this is the second last message in this series.

We're getting there, folks.

One more message next week, but excited for this.

And kind of as you're turning there, you might remember from last week we talked about how the kind of impact that the gospel has on individual character, on you and I.

You and I will change as the gospel takes root in us, as we come to understand better and deeper levels that our salvation is by grace.

We can't earn it and all of that.

And then as we learn to walk in the power of the Spirit, we will change.

Right?

We will change.

Christ's followers themselves become radically different people from the core as the gospel has an impact on us.

Well, our passage this week continues that that type of theme that we started uh just last Sunday.

And we're talking about the transforming effect of the gospel on us, but not just the impact that it has on you or me, okay, but rather you and me, okay?

Us us together, the the relationships that we have with each other.

Okay, the gospel doesn't just change individuals, but it changes uh groups of people and specifically the relationships that we have.

And listen, listen, Lord knows we need it to.

Right?

We need the gospel to change our relationships because we live in a world where where it seems like bailing on relationships seems so much more common uh than working through challenges as they arise, uh, you know, and you know, bailing on all of that and not sticking it out.

I mean, that seems, again, just far more common and and natural to us.

And unfortunately, in many cases, it's not even all that different uh in the church, right?

It's not um, you know, we see we see marriages collapse in the church.

We see relationships disintegrate, or or you know, we see the church hopping thing, where as soon as you know, you know, things get tense between us and another person or you know, whatever it is, rather than just kind of you know working through those issues and getting it to a good place, sometimes for some of us it's just it's just easier to just pick up and leave and and move our family to you know the church down the street or or in the town uh next to us.

You know, or or in a lot of cases, we we don't even bother developing you know real uh great biblical relationships because of you know maybe very real or sometimes simply perceived differences between us and uh and other people.

Like, they're different than us.

Why would I what you know why would I why would I invest in them or allow them to invest in us?

Or maybe we've been burned before, right?

We've got that wound that hasn't quite healed and we haven't you know dealt with that properly, and so there's like, there's no way I'm gonna let other people in in my life, and and there's no way that I'm going to get close with anybody.

I'm gonna I'm gonna go into this like protection mode where uh yeah, no one can hurt me and I'll be a whole lot better off.

Or maybe our relationships aren't great because there's this, you know, I'm better off on my own mentality, you know, and I don't, you know, I don't need people, and I can just kind of do this on my own, and I've survived up to this point on my own, and not really involving myself too deeply with other people.

And so, you know, why would I change all of that?

And and and so we kind of we kind of keep people at arm's length.

But uh, but uh but the thing is we know how to play the game, right?

Right?

We're we're good North American Christians, and we know how to you know kind of put on the facade of acting like we're in this you know great community, and maybe we've you know, maybe we've even joined a small group, and and so we feel pretty good about ourselves there, but but still there's something holding us back from really being all in uh when it comes to relationships there.

You know, we're not really engaging still, or or maybe our relationships suffer because of that real toxic attitude where where you know the church exists to to serve me.

Right?

It's about what is the church, what are these people doing to make me feel better and to you know you know take care of all of my needs and and my wants, and it's really about how other people make me feel, and it's kind of become this entire you know self-centered thing for for some of us.

Listen, when you give it a you know a hard, honest look, okay, it's pretty easy to see that we're just not that great when it comes to this whole relationship thing.

Right?

We're not we're not that strong at it, at least sometimes.

And so you might be thinking this.

I was thinking this this week as I was kind of praying for us and praying for myself in this, I was saying, just God help us.

Right?

God help us develop uh great and godly relationships.

And really hear the good news of today, the good news of this passage is that he does.

He does.

He transforms us, he changes us, and again, not just us as individuals, but as groups.

And so let's let's read this now.

Let's read this passage here from uh Galatians.

We're gonna start there at uh the very last verse, actually, of Galatians chapter 5, looking at verse 26, reading down to 6, verse 5.

Galatians 5 · chapter mention

Take a look.

He says, Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.

Brothers, if anyone is caught in 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 one, or for each, will have to bear his own load.

God, we come before you and Lord, we just wanna we wanna agree with you.

We want to just humbly admit that, yeah, Lord, we sometimes at least we're not we're not that great at relationships.

You know, some of us have you know fairly close relationships with people with whom it comes easy to have relationships with.

They're just like us, they have the exact same interests, they're at the same stage of life and whatnot, but beyond that, we we don't really go any further.

And we are content to you know know you know a small handful of people, but not really, you know, engage in spiritual matters with those people, let alone the the greater extent of the body of Christ.

And so, Father, um, we recognize um obviously right now that we need your help in this.

And so, God, we long to be a church that uh is different.

We long to be a church that reflects the awesome reality of the gospel, not just uh in an individualistic sense, but also in the in the many groups of uh friends and and relationships and acquaintances that we have here.

And so, God, help us.

God, would you give us a heart for each other, Lord, as the gospel plums down into the depths of our souls, Lord, I pray that it would transform the very way that we that we think about people.

Lord, I pray that we would truly do a great job of bearing one another's burdens, Lord.

I pray that we would invest in each other, Lord.

I pray that we would work through the difficulties.

And Lord, even now that as we're you know starting to talk about these things, I know that in some of us we're gonna be reminded of the relationships that aren't real healthy at this point in our lives.

And Lord, we pray for those.

We pray that you would bring restoration in those relationships, that you would bring healing, Lord.

Those of us who are bringing hurts in here from the past that maybe we have not dealt with properly, Lord, would you heal us?

Would you allow us to forgive those who have who have hurt us?

Lord, those of us who have hurt others, I pray that we would make that right.

Lord, I pray that we would honor you and bring glory to you through that.

So, Lord, would you have mercy on us?

Lord, would you speak to us in our our deepest heart needs here this morning?

God, we pray all this in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Amen.

All right.

Well, the gospel will also have a major impact on my relationship.

So not just again, me as an individual, but but us as a community here of believers.

And then here's the first thing if you have notes there, you're a note taker, it's this releasing me from the deadly game of comparison.

The deadly game of comparison.

Take a look at that last verse there in chapter 5, verse 26, as we kind of unpack this here.

He says this, this is what Paul says to the Galatian church.

He says, Let us not become conceited, okay, provoking one another, envying one another.

Now, again, look carefully at this with me here.

This is this is so crucial that we get this, because at first glance here, it looks like it looks like the apostle Paul is giving us three sins to avoid.

Right?

It looks like he's saying, stay away from conceit, uh, provoking, and envy as though those are all really kind of separate things.

But um, as John Stott suggested, and I would wholeheartedly agree on this, um, provoking one another and envying one another are actually two forms of conceit.

All right?

You see that there?

Okay, so and so another way of putting it, if you want to kind of rephrase what Paul is saying here, is he's he's kind of saying, you know, let us not become conceited, okay, which rears its ugly head in either provoking or envying.

All right, you following that?

Now it's really it's really helpful to understand the text that way, uh, because naturally uh we think of the you know the conceited person as you know as that as that cocky and and kind of arrogant and obnoxious person who's who's full of pride.

Right?

When you're like that, that person's so conceited.

You're thinking about like that kid on the playground.

Remember when you were at school?

And there was always that kid in every group who like always had to tell everybody how awesome he was?

Right?

And he was always comparing himself to other people and like I'm better than you, I can kick the ball further than you, I'm stronger than you, my dad could beat up your dad, you know, all that kind of stuff.

Right?

That and and you know, adults kind of act the same way actually sometimes, don't we?

Right?

And but that's that's kind of what we naturally think of when we think of the conceited person.

And it's true.

I mean, there are absolutely pride issues there for sure.

Well, that would be, though, the the provoking person that Paul is referring to.

Likes to likes to needle, likes to, likes to kind of act like they're better all the time, and and and their pride and their conceit is is quite obvious.

But hey, if you think about it, okay, the the envious person, the other type of person that Paul talks about here, who, again, outwardly they might be far less brash than the provoking person, but listen, that that envious person is just as full of pride and conceit as the provoking person.

Only it it just manifests itself very differently.

Okay, the the envious person looks at other people and and they think inside, they're thinking, man, I don't measure up to him or or to her.

You know, I don't have that person's you know set of gifts or you know, that person's you know life circumstances or their personality or their looks or you know, whatever it might be.

The envious person doesn't outwardly project conceit the same way that the that the provoking person does, but but listen, they are just as obsessed with themselves.

Right?

They are focusing on themselves entirely just as much as the provoking person.

See, the both the provoking person and the envious person are extremely self-centered.

They're conceited people.

Because why?

Well, they're both caught in that in that deadly game of comparison.

Right?

They're caught in that.

Right?

The the one who provokes is is constantly comparing themselves to other people around them while thinking that they're superior.

Right?

I'm I'm better than you.

You know, why why can't you get on my level, kind of thing?

And and that might come out outwardly and kind of the way that they treat people, or it might be something kind of depending on your personality and the way that you are wired, you might internalize that.

And again, you kind of give off this humble type facade, okay, but inside you're full of yourself.

Okay, while the one who who envies, they're also constantly comparing themselves to others, yet they're thinking that they're inferior.

Right?

The provoking person is like, I'm superior, it's a superiority complex.

The envious person has an inferiority complex.

Okay, the provoking person, the envious person, they're both, again, they're both self-absorbed people.

They've got they've got conceit oozing out of them.

Listen, are you caught in that?

Are you are you in that game?

Are you on that treadmill of constantly comparing yourself to other people?

It affects us more than we realize.

And I would go so far as to say we all do it.

Right?

We all do it.

Both men and women.

Ladies, okay, how many of you have walked into church today already and you've essentially sized up every single woman in this room?

Right?

You've you've looked at all of them.

Or maybe it's just the specific ones for, you know, to who, for whatever reason, you're kind of, you know, you're drawn to them.

And you, you know, you've memorized what every woman is is wearing, you know, down to every little detail, how they've you know done their hair today, and and kind of inside you've made some type of a judgment about it.

You've you've decided that they've either you've decided that they've either met or maybe exceeded your you know arbitrary standards of beauty, or they fall short.

Right?

They fall short.

How could you how could you wear that?

Right?

And perhaps today your confidence or your conceit is what the the text uses here, has skyrocketed because you feel like, you know what, I look better than her.

Right?

I I I look better, I I am better.

You know, and and you've become that provoking person who, probably inwardly, but maybe in certain outward ways too, you kind of sneer at that other woman.

Or or your confidence and and your conceit, the other side of the coin here, as taking a nosedive.

Because you feel like, well, I can never look like like her.

I could never have the kind of the kind of gifts or personality or looks that she has, and so you've become deeply envious.

But again, the the comparison game, it doesn't just it doesn't just stop at looks.

Again, you compare how that person carries themselves, again, their personalities.

Maybe it's it's their behavior or the behavior of their children, right?

And you're comparing my kids to their kids or or or or her husband to my husband and their marriage to my marriage, and you know, our am I is ours better?

Is ours stronger, or is theirs, or right?

The the list kind of goes on there.

Right?

And the men, you're probably sitting here right now feeling kind of smug.

You're like, yeah, get it together, ladies, right?

This whole this whole comparison game.

Well, listen, I'm coming after you next, fellas.

Okay, men compare too.

Only, you know, ours is a little bit different.

We tend to not really compare as much the the whole looks thing.

You know what's kind of funny how guys, you know, when we see another guy who's jacked or in really good shape, right?

We're kind of like, we're like impressed.

Right?

It's not this like you know, this fear inside or anything like that.

You look at a guy who's like, you know, taking care of himself, you're like, nice, right?

Specimen.

Right?

That's how guys look at it, and we treat that.

I don't know, we're weird in that way.

Maybe the ladies don't get it, I don't know.

Right?

But instead, men's comparison game started when today?

In the parking lot.

Right?

You drove in and you parked next to a bunch of other cars, and and and inside, you've kind of made that that internal judgment about whether that guy's vehicle, his car, or his truck, you know, measures up to your, again, your arbitrary standards of what a man should drive.

Right?

And and and you've kind of compared your yourself to him in that regard.

Or you compare your success to to his success.

You know, how is he providing for his family?

What kind of you know, sweet trips can can he take his family on on March break?

And you know, how much how much money does that guy make compared to you know how much I make?

And you know, just like the ladies, you know, our our confidence and our conceit it rises and it and it falls based on whether or not we think we're we're winning or losing at the at the comparison game.

And internally or or externally, we we provoke because we feel superior, right?

Or or envy because we we feel inferior.

Again, it all depends on on sort of how we're wired and how the you know our natural leanings and bents and and how we happen to judge that guy.

Do you guys see this?

Do you see this in your life?

I see it in mine, right?

And you notice this?

This is uh this is a big problem for us.

As we constantly compare and look at each other, and it's a big reason why we don't engage in healthy relationships and healthy community.

It's a deadly game that kills the kind of relationships that God intends us to have with each other.

It's a huge problem.

This sin of conceit runs deep in the hearts of men and women everywhere on some level.

And, you know, as we come to understand the depths of the problem and just how often this takes place for us, we should be struck by a very key or crucial realization.

You know what that is?

That realization is, uh-oh, I can't fix this.

Right?

That there's nothing I can do really to fix this problem.

And I think one of the biggest issues for believers in the church is we have, you know, this overly simplistic understanding uh that that our you know our relationships and our community would would grow and improve and and and work better if if people would just kind of actually step up and try harder.

You know, you just tried and you just kind of fought the whole, the urge and that tendency to not compare.

If we just tried to like actually reach out to people and engage in a conversation, if we just ask people, how how are you really doing, everything would get better.

We kind of have, again, it's it's too simplistic of a mindset.

Now, I'm not saying we don't ever put forth any energy or any effort.

We actually have to do that for sure, okay?

But what we've been talking about here all through Galatians and definitely over the last couple of weeks specifically reveals that the problem runs far deeper than mere behavior and determination and a little bit of grit can ever fix.

To have truly God-honoring, biblical, Christ-centered, awesome relationships around us in our marriages and in our friendships and in our small groups and you know, in our church, we need the gospel to come in and and and completely rework the motivations and and the function of our hearts.

We need the gospel to have a deeper impact on us than we uh often allow.

All right, so you're thinking now, like, okay, I get it.

You know, I'm not real great at fixing this, I can't really do it.

So how do we do this?

How how do we start how do we start getting down to the issue here?

How does the gospel release me from constantly comparing myself with other people?

How do we get to it?

Okay, well, three things here.

Three things.

First one, it shows me that life is fundamentally not about me at all.

Okay, it's about Christ.

Hey, sometimes I think uh when we think about the gospel, we focus so much on what Jesus came to do for me.

Right?

He came to rescue me, he came to forgive my sin, he came to make all my issues go away and and make me feel at peace and fix all my problems, right?

That's that's where we tend to put all the eggs in the basket when we think about the gospel.

And now is it true?

Does the Lord come in and do a lot of these things and most of these?

Absolutely.

The Lord does that, but but fundamentally, okay, when you strip it right down to its bare bones, the gospel tells us something of God.

It tells us something about our about our Savior Jesus Christ.

It tells us that He is that first of all that He created the world.

Right?

I I think that means if there is a God out there who can create the world, guess what our world is about?

Him.

Right?

It's about Him.

It tells us that He died for our sin.

That's pretty awesome.

Right?

He did that.

It tells us that He will return soon.

He's coming for us, He's gonna make all things new.

It tells us that He is worthy of all of our worship and all of the glory forever and ever.

At the end of the day, life is not about little ol' you and me.

It's not.

But we are so you know warped because of sin and sin.

So deeply selfish, self-centered people that we think that it is.

And we're like even hard on the Lord because He's not fixing us the way we want Him to fix us on our timeline, the way that we want.

Listen, it's not about you.

Right?

You want to stop comparing yourself to other people, get a bigger view of God, get a bigger view of the gospel.

When you start to see Him and His splendor and His glory and His awesomeness and His truth, you're gonna be like, I want I want to compare myself to Him, not this lame person sitting beside me today.

Right?

The comparison game starts to become like we realize how ridiculous it is.

And on a desire level, we want to start being more like Jesus Christ.

Not about that guy or that person, all right?

Okay, how does the gospel release me from constantly comparing?

Second one.

Shows me that I'm to find my worth and my value and my savior, not in others.

Okay, I started to bleed into this one already, but but Jesus makes you whole, right?

He declares you righteous, he heals you.

Listen, you cannot, okay?

You cannot get those things by being better than somebody else.

Okay?

You want to feel whole, you want to feel peace, you want to feel validated, you want to feel joy.

You're not gonna find it by tearing other people down and feeling a sense of superiority over them.

And guess what?

The flip side is also true.

You can't lose that worth, you can't lose that identity, you can't lose that value by somehow being worse than the other person who you think is better than you.

Okay, the gospel shows us that other people simply cannot provide us with what our heart longs for most of all.

That worth, that value, that identity.

Listen, I find my worth, value, and identity.

I find all of those things through Jesus Christ.

They're found in him alone.

Right?

He is the one who informs all of that.

And as I spend my energy pursuing him, I begin to find all of those things in him.

Okay, the gospel shows me that.

And as I find my identity and worth in him, again, I'm not gonna be comparing myself to other people.

Here's the third thing.

Third thing.

How does the gospel release me from constantly comparing?

It shows me that my chief aim is to love others, and it enables me to do that.

Right?

That's what the gospel, that's what the gospel shows us.

Right?

The love that God's shown us is what you and I are now to show other people.

Right?

And that's a radical, selfless, serving type love.

You know, and as we walk by the Spirit, right, we talked about that last week.

As we walk by the Spirit, God's God God's power, his presence fills me and actually empowers me, gives me the ability to truly love the way Jesus loved.

Right?

If you think that, well, if I can just try harder and just you know try and focus a little bit more and try and change my behavior a little bit, I'll be able to love like Jesus did.

Wrong.

You can't do it.

The Spirit of God Himself helps you.

Now, all of that's really, really getting to the second thing.

It actually is the second thing.

All right, the gospel.

By the way, let me just say this.

You know, we got we throw these lists up on the screen and stuff, and every once in a while I'll be like, it went too fast, it went too fast, it got pulled down too quickly.

Now, sometimes I see people like taking a picture of it.

That's great.

You can kind of jot that down later.

But listen, if you ever, you know, we get past it and all of that, and you want me to, you know, you need that, and you're the kind of person who, you know, has to take the notes and fill it all out, just email me, I'll send it to you.

Okay, that was just a side note.

Okay, here we go.

Keep the train moving here.

Right?

The gospel will have a major impact on my relationships.

Okay, freeing me to actually love people well.

Okay, six verse one, look at this.

It says, 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.

Now, these verses are very uh quite revealing, actually.

It shows us that we probably should not have this like utopian, idealistic understanding of how relationships work.

Okay, relationships involve people.

Okay, and people are sinful.

So unfortunately, our relationships will be affected by sin at some point.

Now, I think on some level we kind of understand that, right?

But it's amazing how much we just, you know, we just we just think that everything should go well.

We're the church and it should be kumbaya, holding hands around a campfire.

Right?

There should be no issues.

Don't we all just love Jesus here?

Right?

You've been in the church long enough, you know, ha! Right?

That's not quite the way it works.

Right?

There are challenges.

Right?

There really are.

Okay, so so don't begin relationships here at our church, you know, thinking, like, okay, maybe this time it'll be different.

You know, all the other relationships that I've had at previous churches that that went sideways, those those problems aren't gonna surface here, and you know, they you know really love the Bible here, and so everything is gonna, you know, just kind of work out, and there shouldn't be really, you know, any issues.

Hey, sorry to say it, sorry to burst your bubble, but uh, yeah, there will be issues.

Right?

There's gonna be problems.

In fact, there already have been problems.

And so many of us have had to go to other people here in this room and apologize for things, or or you know, humbly say, listen, though what you said affected me and it hurt me, and you know, we've had to we've had to deal with issues as you know as they've come, as they've come up.

Okay?

And so listen, we need to we need to expect these things.

We need to expect, you know, challenges.

Our relationships are inevitably gonna fall short of ideal.

So don't be naive about these things.

Okay, but at the same time, don't give up on having healthy relationships either.

Right?

Don't get fatalistic about every church is a mess.

Yeah, exactly, we are.

And you know what?

Why?

Because we have people like you in it and people like me.

I don't put myself in the same category.

Right?

Churches are a mess.

They're you know, discipleship is messy.

It's ugly, it's gritty, it's not you know, Disney fairy tale stories.

It's not happily ever after, you know, everything is just smooth and easy, no problems.

At the end of the day, when the Lord returns, yeah, then it's gonna be happily ever after.

But up until then, we should expect some problems here.

Okay?

Sure, we're not great at all of this, but but can we be encouraged if the Lord's working?

Right?

Can we say that?

I hope we're not like too discouraged about all of this as we talk about this.

The Lord is moving, the Lord is working in us.

If we believe that we are saved, if we believe that we are justified, we can believe that we are being sanctified.

Our growth happens.

We talked about this already.

Over time, it happens slowly, but we can trust that God is doing some things here, and so we should be encouraged.

And as it comes to our relationships, we should have this attitude and this mentality of restoration.

Restoration in our relationships.

Take a look at it.

What does it say again?

It says, if anyone is caught in a transgression transgression, meaning like, hey, it's gonna happen.

It's gonna happen.

Okay, it says, you who are spiritual should what?

Restore, right?

You should restore him.

But man, if only Paul said, like, how do we do that?

Well, he does, right?

He says, in a spirit of gentleness.

Okay, we should we should restore in a spirit of gentleness.

Now, you who are spiritual, it'd be easy to look at that and and kind of be like, well, you know, Paul must be referring to like some you know elite group of like super Christians who are like extra super spiritual and you know better off than everybody else.

They're the ones who need to do the work of restoration, but I'm free and clear.

Right?

I'm I'm good to go.

The responsibility is not on me.

Uh wrong.

Okay, that's not quite how that works.

Okay.

Spiritual there means those who walk by the spirit.

Remember, this is all in context of the verses that we looked at last week.

The whole the whole book is is one cohesive letter.

Okay?

Those who walk by the spirit, referring to who?

Everyone.

Right?

Every single person who is a Christ follower is you who are spiritual.

He said, listen, Harvest Bible Chapel, us here as a church should have the expectation and the mentality and be characterized by this drive, because of the gospel and because of what it is doing in our hearts, to see relationships restored.

Right?

To see relationships renewed.

If or or or rather when they go sour.

When they go sour.

Now, I've already mentioned this that, you know, it's all of this, it's not really the common mentality of our day, right?

In our world or unfortunately, even inside the church, you know, we we love to hit the ejection button real quick as soon as things go get dicey with another person.

We're like, just get me out of this cockpit, ejection seat.

I don't even care if the parachute works.

I just want to get out of this kind of awkward situation with that person.

Okay, we love, we love all of that.

Because ultimately, at the end of the day, listen, we we just don't love well.

We don't truly love well.

Sure, again, we can kind of put up this front and we can kind of present this image of ourselves that we want you know people to see, this image that we are loving, and and we've kind of got it all dialed in.

But sometimes I wonder if if sometimes what we would call love is kind of like a surface-y kind of representation of that love.

Sometimes I just wonder if it's because we're like nice Canadians.

Right?

We we're nice, we're just nice people, and so it can kind of look like we're loving.

You know, or or maybe it's you know, we're we're we've got extroverted personalities, and so we like to engage and chop it up with people, and you know, we love to have you know good company around us.

So from a certain angle, it all kind of looks like love.

But but is it actually, is it is it biblical love?

Is it is it 1 Corinthians 13 type love?

Have you read that passage in a while?

Just jot that down, read that this week.

Love does not envy, love does not boast.

Right?

We have such a like a kind of a service-y, again, understanding of what love is.

We think it's a feeling, right?

It's it's the butterflies inside.

You know, it's it's the it's the warm mushiness.

That's not really what love is.

That's not biblical love.

Biblical love goes into the hard corners and and mucks it up with people and and willing to work through situations.

And listen, that that whole mentality, that whole idea of sacrificial, you know, love, that just flat out does not come naturally to us.

Do you recognize that?

Do you see that in your life?

You know, what is what does genuine love look like?

Well, a lot of things.

Again, 1 Corinthians 13, great, great spot for you to look and read through that.

But here in our verse, verse 2, look what it says.

It gives a great example of what of what love looks like.

It says this bear one another's burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ.

Okay, the law of Christ is uh a reference back to the previous chapter in chapter 5, verse 14.

If you kind of look probably to the left side of the same page that you're on in your Bible, what does it say?

It says, For the whole law is fulfilled in one word.

You shall what?

Love your neighbor as yourself.

Okay?

So he says, love people and so fulfill the law of Christ.

Now, if you put all of this together, what he what he what Paul's kind of talking about here, can you kind of zoom out a little bit and look at the big picture?

He's kind of telling us that as the gospel impacts us, as it impacts you, and as it impacts me, and as it motivates our hearts to, again, function from this place of joy in Christ for what he has done, recognize that I can't earn my salvation or anything like that.

What does it do?

It frees us up now to love people radically.

Okay, from a desire standpoint, we're not gonna want to be ruled and governed and driven by conceit, which leads to what?

Provoking and envying.

We don't want to be governed by all of that because that creates what?

Relational destruction.

So as the gospel's working, we get to the place where we actually want to love people.

It's like a desire inside of us.

We want to love well, we want to love deeply, we want to love genuinely.

The evidence of which will be that we bear one another's burdens.

We'll bear one another's burdens.

We'll boldly go into challenging areas of people's lives.

We don't look at those areas and think, ooh, I'm out.

No, we we go for, we draw alongside them, we we encourage people.

Like, how can I serve you?

How can I help you?

And then also the other side of all of that, we allow people to do the same thing in us.

I think that's the challenge.

So many of us have less of a problem helping people, we have a harder time letting other people help us.

Right?

That's tough.

Listen, this series is called The Gospel Changes Everything.

Why?

Because it literally does.

Right?

It literally does.

If you're seeing that your love for other people is a far cry from what these verses say, do you find this convicting?

Like, I'm studying this this week and I'm like, oh, right, my own heart is exposed.

I'm like, Lord, I need help with all of this.

If if your relationships are generally, you know, too shallow, or or they typically don't last and they seem really awesome, but then they fizzle, they fizzle out, or or people's burdens cause you to like back away slowly, don't make eye contact, right?

If that's kind of how you are with different people, it means that the gospel just simply hasn't permeated your heart deep enough yet.

So what do we do?

We gotta preach it to ourselves.

How many times have you heard me say that over the last month or two?

We gotta preach the gospel to ourselves, we gotta remind ourselves of the amazing privilege that it is for us as a church to love people with the same love that Jesus Christ has shown us.

What a joy, what an what an honor the Lord call us into this kind of thing, that we can be an extension of Jesus Christ Himself in other people's lives.

We need to get the gospel deep down, though, sink it deep down into your soul, into your heart.

That's how we get past those surfacy mirages of fake love that we we sometimes call love, but it's again, it's uh it's an imitation.

Okay, as soon as relationships become difficult, we get beyond all of that.

As the gospel takes deeper roots in you and I, we find ourselves marked by this desire to, again, to muck it up with people, right?

To roll up our sleeves and move towards them in relationships and to serve other people when they're going through something difficult.

Right?

We actually have the desire now to push past the awkwardness.

Right?

So many of us, and it's hard, like we allow awkwardness to just completely hamstring us.

Right?

It's awkward to say that thing, so therefore I will say nothing.

Right?

Or I don't I don't know how to talk to this person about an issue that I see come up, so I'm just gonna let them kind of tank their life out because I I don't really love the person properly.

I'm not driven by the truth of the gospel.

Right?

We push through that awkwardness, we have those necessary discussions about sin, or or gladly give up our free time that is so precious to us because the love of Christ in us joyfully compels us to love well.

Last thing.

The gospel will also have a major impact on my relationships, giving me the proper approach to my responsibilities.

Alright, take a look at verse three.

He says here, for if anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself to 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 one will have to bear his own load.

Now, do you read those verses and kind of saying, huh?

That kind of seems a little confusing to me.

But it seems like he's kind of saying the opposite of what he's been saying all along.

Right?

Earlier, Paul challenged us to not become conceited, which at the end of the day, what is that?

That's pride.

Right?

Don't don't be don't be proud.

But then here, what does he say?

He talks about boasting in yourself.

Hmm.

That doesn't that doesn't quite sound right.

And then what does he say?

He told us, first of all, to bear one another's burdens.

Right?

Should come alongside people and help them with their burdens, but then here in our verse, it says, for each one will have to bear what?

His own load.

What is he saying here?

Is the Bible full of contradictions?

Is Paul like not thinking straight as he writes this?

Right?

What is he saying here?

Well, first of all, bearing your own load.

Let's talk, let's tackle that first.

Okay, that word load, okay, it's it's a different word than burdens.

I think in the English sometimes we see the word load, we see the word burdens, we think automatically, oh, it's the same thing.

Right?

It's just a different word to communicate the exact same thing.

Well, in the original language, that's that's not the case.

The word burdens refers to an unmanageable weight.

Okay, an unmanageable weight that a person might have that that you and I, we need to like come alongside them and help them and get under that weight and bear that with them.

You ever try to move a couch?

You can't do that.

That's an unmanageable weight, that's a burden.

Okay, you need another person to grab that and and carry that with you.

Okay, that's the word burden.

The word load refers to uh to a manageable weight.

A manageable weight.

Tim Keller likens it sort of like a backpack.

Right?

That's the, you know, that's that's what you have.

That backpack is yours.

That's that's your responsibility.

You know, I'm I'm always you know telling my kids as they're you know on the way out the door in the mornings, we drive them to school.

I'm like, Caris, grab your backpack.

Right?

This is this is your responsibility.

I'm not gonna bring this to the car for you.

It's got everything you need.

Come back, grab, put it on, you know, take it out, take it out to the car.

Right?

That's that's yours.

Okay, so what is Paul saying here?

He's saying that that God gives each one of us a set of gifts and and things like circumstances and challenges and and responsibilities in life that that are on us.

Right?

They're they're our responsibility uh to handle.

Okay, for example, I have to lead my family.

Would you agree with that?

Like, I can't expect you to do that.

It's not your job to you know lead my wife and and lead my ch lead my kids.

That's that's me.

That's on me.

That's what I have to do, right?

Likewise, you have to get up tomorrow morning and and go to work.

Right?

You shouldn't expect me to punch in the clock for you at the office, or you know, you've got to drive the kids to school, or if you're a student, you've got to go to class.

You can't expect somebody else to do that for you.

You and I, we each need to follow the Lord in the different gifts and circumstances and and and all of that, the things that he has given us, those responsibilities that are they're on you, they're not on, they're not on somebody else.

Okay, and then when Paul says here, let each one test his own work, and then his reason to boast will be in himself alone and not in his neighbor, what's he saying?

Okay, well, he's saying that that we're to measure our growth uh against ourselves.

Against ourselves.

Stop comparing yourself and where you're at spiritually or in life, whatever, to where other people are at spiritually or you know, or in life.

Instead, compare yourself to where you've come from, right?

Compare yourself to you.

You know, sure, maybe your your personal, you know, time in God's word isn't nearly as consistent or or at the same depth as your spouse or or that other guy over there, okay?

But maybe it is far more consistent and deep than it was, let's say, two years ago.

You see what I'm saying there?

And and as you test your own work against where you've come from, you'll be able to boast in yourself.

Boast in yourself, meaning take legitimate pride in.

Not talking about like sinful pride, not arrogant pride.

But kind of like, you know, hey, this is so cool.

Right?

I've been praying, I've been working on some things in my life and trying to get these spiritual disciplines, you know, into place, and you know, and I see that I'm I'm growing here and I'm excited about this, and I'm proud of the effort that I've put forward here as the Lord's been doing things.

That's a good thing.

Right?

So it's it's a legitimate sense of pride.

Kind of like how you're proud of your kids.

Right?

Your kid learns to crawl, and you're like, you're the greatest child ever, right?

I am so proud of you.

Something sinful about that.

It's a great thing for a parent to be proud of their child.

Listen, the gospel has a major impact on our relationships.

We get better at bearing one another's burdens as it takes root, but listen, it also gives us that inner drive to carry our own responsibilities forward.

Okay, that's not on others.

Okay, that's that's on me.

And listen, if I have a proper approach to the things that God has given me and the circumstances that I have, and you know, I'm not wishing them all away and wishing that I had that person's easy life.

By the way, newsflash, that person's life probably isn't nearly as easy as their Instagram feed would suggest.

Right?

But if I'm not wishing that away and I'm just kind of owning what God has given me, guess what?

It's it's it's actually gonna do nothing but benefit my relationships with other people.

It's gonna benefit my relationships in the church.

Why?

Because now other people aren't trying to carry what isn't theirs to carry.

Right?

I I'm managing what God has given me.

I'm not giving that to somebody else.

It now frees up other people in the church to care for me where I've got real burdens, unmanageable weights that I that I can't take care of on my own.

It frees them up to care for other people who need it really badly in this season of life and whatever they're going through.

Hopefully you're tracking with that.

Listen, I would hope, and I've been praying all week that as you are kind of listening to this and as we're looking at God's word and as his spirit is moving in your heart, you know, hopefully you're feeling any measure of thing right now or any number of things, but hopefully there's a sense of burden about relationships.

We're gonna have the worship team uh make their way forward right now, and uh we're gonna end things a little bit differently than the usual.

I'm not gonna close in prayer here like we would normally do.

Instead, our application, if you will, of all of this is gonna be for just each one of us to pray.

The worship team is gonna lead us in a song, and you know, again, perhaps the spirit has been kind of pressing on you.

Maybe he's been encouraging you.

Right?

Maybe you're like, yeah, like I'm I'm I feel like the Lord's doing some good things in me, and I'm just so grateful for the people in my small group that have come alongside me and have have helped me through some difficult seasons, or I'm just grateful for the friendships that I have here, and I feel like there's a real depth to it, like I've never experienced before, and I feel like my relationships are in a good place overall, and I just want to praise the Lord for that and thank him because that is a gift.

Perhaps you're feeling a sense of kind of conviction and feeling like you know, where I should be is like over here, yet I'm over here.

And relationships that that I have are not quite where they should be.

And maybe that, you know, in many ways is on me.

Maybe I haven't invested, maybe I haven't gotten involved nearly as much, maybe I haven't put the you know the effort in and made it a priority.

Maybe I've been living on the outskirts of true gospel community in the church.

Maybe I never think about the gospel, and maybe that's why my heart has grown cold.

And so right now you're gonna have an opportunity again as the as the team leads us here to just kind of do as the Spirit leads you.

Okay, if you want to stand and worship, do that.

If you want to sit and reflect on these words, if you want to sit and and pray, if you want to pray for very specific relationships that aren't great, maybe specifically here in the church, I hope that you would spend some time praying that for that.

Pray that our that our relationships here would reflect the gospel, pray that they would be uh an amazing aroma in the Lord's nostrils, pray that the Lord would be glorified and honored by our relationships here.

Pray that the Lord would do that hard work in us so that we would truly love well.

If you've got sin in your life and you're part of the problem, would you confess that?

Spend this as a time, use this time as a time to confess this sin, get this, get right with the Lord.

Maybe there's like a person that I'm sitting with here today, or someone who's here, or someone who's not here because I've made it difficult for them to come here.

Because I have been hard on them, I have provoked them.

It's my problem.

I've got conceit, I've got to confess this, I've got to go make this right.

Let's not just leave here and be like, oh, great song, we're gone.

No.

Let's refuse to let sin dominate.

Let's deal with this.

Let's ask the Lord to move and to work.

So the instructions are clear?

Right?

As the Lord leads, don't stand if the person just because the person besides you is standing.

Don't kneel at your seat just because the person beside you is kneeling.

Do what the Spirit is leading you to do now.

The team is gonna lead us.

Let's go to prayer.