Today I want to tackle a truth that is foundational to the Christian Faith. What I want to talk about is burdens, the heaviness of life that weighs us down. If we are not rooted in God’s word we will find ourselves going through life with baggage and heaviness that is not meant for us.
Last Tuesday I was driving home from Red Deer and my stomach was just sick. Brenna and I were planning on taking on a Real Estate venture and the stress and the worry of it was taking a physical toll on both of us. I was driving home and the radio was off, and I was just praying and thinking about this venture.
The words of Jesus from Matthew 11 came to my mind. He says, "Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Matt 11:28 (NRSV)
And I began to wonder how this can practically happen in life. How do we go about dealing with burdens and troubles, how can we live these words that Jesus spoke. How can we find that rest for our souls when life is heavy and seems to be spinning all around?
The answers, of course, are in the Bible. God gives us practical wisdom for dealing with trouble and stress and worry.
Galatians chapter 6 is a good place for us to start.
Gal 6:1-5 (NLT)
1 Dear brothers and sisters, if another Christian is overcome by some sin, you who are godly should gently and humbly help that person back onto the right path. And be careful not to fall into the same temptation yourself.
2 Share each other’s troubles and problems, and in this way obey the law of Christ.
3 If you think you are too important to help someone in need, you are only fooling yourself. You are really a nobody.
4 Be sure to do what you should, for then you will enjoy the personal satisfaction of having done your work well, and you won’t need to compare yourself to anyone else.
5 For we are each responsible for our own conduct.
What Galatians 6 is telling us is that some burdens are meant to be shared.
Verse 1 says that if another Christian is overcome by sin that we should gently and humbly help that person back onto the right path.
That is a very practical way to help someone with their burden. It requires a certain level of tact and humility. But put yourself into that persons shoes.
Can you remember a time in your life when you were overcome by sin, there was some habit that you were stuck in. You began to resent yourself, because of the frustration in your spirit. You know what the right thing is to do, but Like the Apostle Paul in Romans 7, you hated what you were doing, but you did it anyways. “Oh wretched man that I am, who will rescue me from this body of death?”
Wouldn’t it have been wonderful if somebody would have helped you to break out of that cycle of sin. Wouldn’t it have been a sweet relief to have somebody lovingly take you by the hand and offer you accountability so that you could once and for all shed that pattern in your life?
Sin’s power comes through secrecy and shame. It shames you into keeping the secret to yourself, you don’t tell anyone about it and you ask God for forgiveness and just try to do better next time. But the strategy of the devil is to keep you in isolation, and the power of sin urges you to keep the secret.
But the Bible says that we can help each other out, don’t give in to sins’ voice of secrecy and darkness, shine the light of the truth on it and let’s get the victory. Because what you want most when you are in darkness, is for somebody to find out what you’ve been doing and to love you enough and to value you enough to pull you back into right living.
It is a real friend who loves you enough to confront you on the sin that is only leading to death in your life.
Many times we are too embarrassed to help, or we feel like we might make the situation worse. Other times we doubt the influence that we could have.
But the Bible says in Galatians 6:1 that we can be the ones who help our friends get out from under the oppression of sin. We can help each other to be free of that burden.
Sorrow is another burden that is meant to be shared.
Galatians 6:2 tells us to share one another’s problems.
2 Corinthians 1:4 (NLT) He comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others. When others are troubled, we will be able to give them the same comfort God has given us.
Comfort doesn’t necessarily mean that we have all of the right answers, or that we have the best advice to give. Comfort is a noun and it means to give moral or emotional strength.
I wouldn’t say that the difficult times that you have gone through are from God, but I will say that God can use your experience to give comfort and support to a person who is going through a similar time now.
Don’t waste your pity on yourself, use your experiences to help others today.
DECISIONS
Proverbs 15:22-23 (NLT)
22 Plans go wrong for lack of advice; many counselors bring success.
23 Everyone enjoys a fitting reply; it is wonderful to say the right thing at the right time!
These two verses came alive to me this week. I was in way over my head, trying to get success in an area where I really didn’t have much experience.
I began to talk to different friends and acquaintances who had a proven track record. Each time that I talked to somebody new I would explain the facts and ask for their help and perspective, without telling them what the other people had said. And when I took all of the advice and put it together it actually lined up.
That gave me comfort. The sickness in my stomach just went away, the stress was gone, and I was so glad that I am a part of the Church, and that we have so much experience and wisdom in this body.
This is my new policy when I go into a new situation. Get advice from those who have a proven track record. That is what I will do, because it takes the stress and the emotion out of decision making. It makes the burden so much lighter and easier to manage.
Some of our burdens are meant to be shared. We read in Galatians 6:5 that there are also burdens that we are responsible for ourselves.
Galatians 6:5 For we are each responsible for our own conduct.
When it comes to our actions we are in control. We get to choose the actions, but not the consequences
Take this story for example.
It won the runner-up prize in the 1999 Darwin Awards: A Vermont native, Ronald Demuth, found himself in a difficult position. While touring the Eagle’s Rock African Safari (Zoo) with a group of thespians from St. Petersburg, Russia, Mr. Demuth went overboard to show them one of America’s many marvels. He demonstrated the effectiveness of "Crazy Glue"... the hard way. Apparently, Mr. Demuth wanted to demonstrate just how good the adhesive was, so he covered the palms of his hands with the adhesive, and jokingly placed them on the rear end of a passing rhino.
The rhino, a resident of the zoo for the past thirteen years, was not initially startled as it has been part of the petting exhibit since its arrival as a baby. However, once it became aware of its being involuntarily stuck to Mr. Demuth, it began to panic and ran around the petting area wildly making Mr. Demuth an unintended passenger.
James Douglass, the caretaker reports that "Sally [the rhino] hasn’t been feeling well lately. She had been very constipated. We had just given her a laxative and some depressants to relax her bowels, when Mr. Demuth played his juvenile prank,"
During Sally’s tirade two fences were destroyed, a shed wall was gored, and a number of small animals escaped. Also, during the stampede, three pygmy goats and one duck were stomped to death. As for Demuth, it took a team of medics and zoo caretakers’ to remove his hands from her buttocks. First, the animal had to be captured and calmed down. However, during this process the laxatives began to take hold and Mr. Demuth was repeatedly showered with over 30 gallons of rhino diarrhea. "It was tricky. We had to calm her down, while at the same time shield our faces from being pelted with rhino dung. I guess you could say that Mr. Demuth was into it up to his neck.
Once she was under control, we had three people with shovels working to keep an air passage open for Mr. Demuth. We were able to tranquilize her and apply a solvent to remove his hands from her rear," said Douglass. "I don’t think he’ll be playing with Crazy Glue for a while."
Ronald Demuth choose his actions, but he did not get to choose the consequence of those actions.
Sometimes we do things that just don’t make sense as well. And then the consequences come and they are our responsibility. What we need to do is to not make excuses, to not blame somebody else, and to not pretend that we are victims of circumstance.
We need to stand up and take responsibility. We need to say that we were wrong and ask God and man for forgiveness.
God forgives Ronald Demuth for gluing his hands to the rhino, but he still had to face the consequences for his actions.
God forgives you for every single sin when you repent and ask for forgiveness, but you still have to deal with the consequences.
That is a responsibility that you have to accept on your own. And as you accept that responsibility you will be happy to accept the help and support of your friends, just like Mr. Demuth was happy to accept the help of the zoo staff and the medical team.
Some burdens are meant to be shared. Others we have to take responsibility for, and there is a final grouping of burdens that God has promised to take care of.
Matt 11:28-30 (NRSV)
28 "Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light."
The yoke that Jesus is talking about in this verse is a piece of wood that is strapped to the oxen to pull a heavy load. The way that the yoke was made was so that the stonger ox would carry the brunt of the load and the lighter ox would get the lighter part.
Jesus is saying that when we allow for him to come along side of us and help, he will take the hard parts, and we get the lighter parts, but in order for the load to be taken care of, we have to be attached to Jesus.
Jesus audience would have immediately understood what he was talking about, because it perfectly fit there culture. But we have tractors today instead of oxen, and so maybe a different example would help us to understand.
My little boy Ethan is just over a year old. He is in an amazing stage of his life where he likes to explore and discover. Sometimes he will be making his way through the living room when he will look up and see me sitting on the couch. And little Ethan says to himself, “I wonder what’s up there.” SO he boogies over to the couch and puts his hands up so that I can help him up.
And as I lift up Ethan his little legs are going and he is doing his best to get himself up, but I am also holding him tight and lifting him up, because I know that he can’t do it on his own.
God wants to see you succeed in life, he created you to overcome and to get the victory. You look up and you say, I want to go there. And so you start planning and training and learning and you begin to get to wear you are going.
But it is God that is lifting you up. You are the one taking the initiative, you are the one with the dream and the goal in your eye, but it is the strong hand of God that is making it happen in your life.
What are you going through today? God has a promise for you.
Are you Holding on tight to your burdens?
Psalms 55:22 (TLB)
Give your burdens to the Lord. He will carry them. He will not permit the godly to slip or fall.
Are you going through troubles?
Nahum 1:7 (NLT) The LORD is good. When trouble comes, he is a strong refuge. And he knows everyone who trusts in him.
Is life beginning to get a little bit cloudy and hazy. Do you need for some light to come into your darkness?
Psalms 84:11 (NLT)
11 For the LORD God is our light and protector.
He gives us grace and glory.
No good thing will the LORD withhold
from those who do what is right.
Are you concerned about your safety? Are you in danger?
Matthew 10:28-31 (NLT)
28 "Don’t be afraid of those who want to kill you. They can only kill your body; they cannot touch your soul. Fear only God, who can destroy both soul and body in hell. 29 Not even a sparrow, worth only half a penny, can fall to the ground without your Father knowing it. 30 And the very hairs on your head are all numbered. 31 So don’t be afraid; you are more valuable to him than a whole flock of sparrows.
Are you concerned that your prayers aren’t making a difference. Are you starting to wonder if God really hears you?
Luke 11:9-10 (NLT)
9 "And so I tell you, keep on asking, and you will be given what you ask for. Keep on looking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened. 10 For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And the door is opened to everyone who knocks.
Are you stressed out? Have you lost control of your life?
Romans 8:26-28 (NLT)
26 And the Holy Spirit helps us in our distress. For we don’t even know what we should pray for, nor how we should pray. But the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words. 27 And the Father who knows all hearts knows what the Spirit is saying, for the Spirit pleads for us believers in harmony with God’s own will. 28 And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.
Are you worried about your needs being met?
And this same God who takes care of me will supply all your needs from his glorious riches, which have been given to us in Christ Jesus.
Phil 4:19 (NLT)
Does your past come back to haunt you. Do your old sins still play in your mind?
Lord, if you keep in mind our sins, then who can ever get an answer to his prayers? But you forgive! What an awesome thing this is! 5 That is why I wait expectantly, trusting God to help, for he has promised.
Psalms 130:3-5 (TLB)
Are you sick?
3 He forgives all my sins and heals all my diseases.
Psalms 103:3 (NLT)
Are you concerned about your eternity, where you will go when you die?
16 "For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. 17 God did not send his Son into the world to condemn it, but to save it.
John 3:16-17 (NLT)
Jesus said, Come to me all who are tired, and weary, give me your burdens and find rest. These are the promises of God. We are responsible to claim them, God is responsible to keep his word, and he always does. Lay your burdens down this morning. Find some rest. Take the weight off of your shoulder and give it God.
