Christian Living Is A Team Effort

Christian living is a team effort

Can you recall a time in your life when you really needed some kind of help and someone was there to lend you a hand? Being a Christian requires that you put others before yourself.

Christians are not hermits, we strive to enjoy the fellowship of the Lord’s church while being a servant to all and sharing the gospel message with others.

At a county fair, the townspeople held a horse pulling contest. The first place horse ended up moving a sled weighing 4500 lbs. the second place finisher pulled 4000 lbs. the two owners decided to see what these two horses could pull together. They hitched them up and found that together they could pull 12,000 lbs. working separately they pulled 8500 lbs. , but together they produced and additional 3500 lbs. Unity consistently produces greater results than individual endeavors. Teamwork divides the effort and multiplies the results!

As Christians we need unity to accomplish the tasks the Lord would have us do! I would like you to turn to Galatians 6:1 this morning and we will look at 9 actions that Christians should possess to be unified one with another. Here in Galatians we find the churches in Galatia desperately needed some Christian teamwork! There was a clear responsibility to care for one another, but some had begun to fall away. Paul urged the Galatians to break free from the Judaizers and return to the way of faith, and there are ways you should be helping one another. Teamwork is the only way! One mark of true spirituality is the willingness to get involved in another person’s life to help that person if they are entangled in a life of sin.

Let’s read Galatians 6:1 (NKJV) - Bear and Share the Burdens

6 Brethren, if a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness, considering yourself lest you also be tempted.

The word overtaken implies being surprised or doing something on a sudden impulse. This person is not courting sin, but it crept up on them before they realized it. The word trespass suggest that they knew it was sin at the time it happened, but it was not premediated. The restorer works meekly “in a spirit of gentleness” not arrogantly but with great care to ensure he is not caught up in this brother’s sin. There is a good reason that Paul in chapter 5 contrasts the works of the flesh with the fruit of the Spirit.

Galatians 5:19-23 (NIV)

19 The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; 20 idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions 21 and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.

22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.

As hard as we try we can fall victim to Satan and his attacks and sometimes we can be snared into a trap, Paul is saying here be careful not to give in to the same temptation when helping others! One of the reasons the church exists is to help each other to remain faithful.

John Stott said: “The correct attitude to have for others is not I’m better than you and I’ll prove it or You’re better than I and I resent it, but that you are a person of importance in your own right (because God made you in His own image and Christ died for you) and it is my joy and privilege to serve you”

verse2: Galatians 6:2 (NKJV) - 2 Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.

A spiritual person will bear another’s burden. The word “Bear” suggests shouldering another’s burdens. The burden spoken of here relates to the first verse and concerns the sorrow or shame felt by the brother or sister that has been restored. In bearing one another’s burdens Paul says we are fulfilling the law of Christ. Paul here is drawing a contrast from the Law of Moses to The Law of Christ. The Judaizers insisted that Gentile Christians were obligated to keep the Law of Moses, but Paul says there is a higher law. The difference in the two dispensations is not that one had a law and the other did not, but it was the administration of the law. The Law of Moses was administered with justice and The Law if Christ is administered with Grace and Love.

Matthew 22:37-40 (NKJV)

37 Jesus said to him, “you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and great commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’40 on these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.”