Bear One Another's Burdens Series

Introduction:

A. I want to begin with a story from Max Lucado’s book, In The Eye Of The Storm - It is a story about a parakeet named Chippie.

1. Chippie the parakeet never saw it coming - one second he was peacefully perched in his cage, and the next he was sucked in, washed up and blown over.

2. The problem began when Chippie’s owner decided to clean Chippie’s cage with a vacuum cleaner.

3. She put the end of the hose into Chippie’s cage to clean the bottom, but then the phone rang.

4. She turned to answer the phone, and barely said “hello” when she heard “ssssopp!”

5. Chippie was sucked into the vacuum.

6. The bird owner gasped, put down the phone, turned off the vacuum, and quickly opened the vacuum bag.

7. There was Chippie…very stunned, but still alive.

8. Since the bird was covered with dust and dirt, his owner raced him to the bathroom, turned on the water and held Chippie under the running water.

9. Then, realizing that Chippie was soaked and shivering, she did what any compassionate bird owner would do…she reached for the hair blow-dryer and blasted Chippie with hot air.

10. Poor Chippie never knew what hit him.

11. A few days after the trauma, a reporter who had initially written about the traumatic event called Chippie’s owner to see how the bird was recovering.

12. “Well,” the owner replied, “Chippie doesn’t sing much anymore…he just sits and stares.”

B. And it’s not hard to see why.

1. Sucked in, washed up, and blown over…that’s enough to steal the song from the stoutest heart.

2. “Sucked in, washed up, and blown over.” That about sums up how many of us feel at times when life hits us hard. Isn’t that right? You’ve felt that way before, haven’t you?

3. M. Scott Peck began his book The Road Less Traveled with a three word sentence that is packed with a simple, yet a profound truth…it reads, “Life is difficult.”

4. And he is so very right. Life indeed is difficult.

5. Life is filled with burdens that must be borne.

C. God’s intention for the church is that we become a family where we bear one another’s burdens and by so doing, we help each other through this very difficult life we live.

1. Look again with me at the verse we used as the Scripture reading, and let’s pick up the verses before and after it, to give us some context.

2. Paul wrote: 1 Brothers and sisters, if someone is overtaken in any wrongdoing, you who are spiritual, restore such a person with a gentle spirit, watching out for yourselves so that you also won’t be tempted. 2 Carry one another’s burdens; in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ. 3 For if anyone considers himself to be something when he is nothing, he deceives himself. 4 Let each person examine his own work, and then he can take pride in himself alone, and not compare himself with someone else. 5 For each person will have to carry his own load. (Gal. 6:1-5)

3. Let’s examine the command, and then work toward its application.

I. The Command.

A. In verse 1, Paul gave instructions concerning our responsibility to help other believers who are stuck in sin.

1. He says that we are to come alongside the sinning brother or sister and help restore them in a spirit of gentleness.

2. Then in verse 2, Paul commands that we bear one another’s burdens.

3. The fact that the command of verse 2 follows the command of verse 1, suggests that this is one form of burden bearing.

4. Helping another believer overcome the burden of a certain sinful behavior is one way to help someone bear their burden.

5. But Paul is not implying that this is the only way to carry each other’s burdens.

B. The “burdens” that we are to help others carry include any sort of difficulties that people face.

1. The word that is used here is a general word that literally means “a heavy weight.”

2. It has been a normal practice to refer to something that is very heavy to carry as a “burden.”

3. That’s why certain animals are referred to as “beasts of burden.”

C. The word that is translated “bear” or “carry” is a word that in the original language meant “to carry or lift something.”

1. The most literal meaning of the words is “to pick something up and carry it away.”

2. As Paul employs it in a figurative sense, he means that we are to reach out to a brother or sister in their time of difficulty and help them in any way we are able.