Introduction:
I. Their have been a couple of seasons of the TV show survivor.
A. This show has captivated America’s attention for various reasons.
1. One of those reason is surely the art of survival in a stacked situation.
2. When it comes between life and death, it is amazing what people will do, eat and drink.
B. Survival is a real concern period, when you are in a foreign environment or when you are lost.
1. A person is unable to survive more than a couple of days without water.
2. A couple of weeks without food in general.
3. So in times where we are in survival mode, we realize the most important things in life.
C. Christians can find themselves in a spiritual survival mode very quickly.
1. When they get caught in sin, and are overtaken by the desire of the flesh.
2. They often are trying to get out of it, but there is no seeming end to the chase
3. What will it take for survival?
II. Paul calls each of the faithful Galatians in 5:16 to live by the Spirit.
A. "So I say, Live by the Spirit…"
1. Not by the flesh
2. Not by indecision
3. Not by indiscretion, but by the Spirit
B. He brought to our attention that following the flesh is not living by the Spirit.
1. He continues these admonitions in Chapter 6
C. Paul gets practical with us.
1. He calls faithful Christians to care for the overtaken brother.
2. He charges us not to try and measure up
3. He gives us the liability of ourselves
Body
I. Have you given up on your brother?
A. Why is it?
1. Is it a lack of love and concern
a. Many years ago a preacher Henry Ward Beecher went to the pulpit to preach and found a letter containing one word, "Fool." He calmly, quietly announced the contents of the letter to the congregation saying, "I have known of people writing a letter and forgetting to sign their name to it. But this is the first time I have ever seen someone sign their name and forget to write the letter."
b. Christians should be in the business of helping one another, bearing one another’s burdens, not creating more burdens.
c. But some Christians are more Critical than they are caring. They are more of a hindrance than a help.
2. Is it Pride?
a. I wonder often why some will be the first to tell you when you have done something wrong, but will never compliment you on anything.
b. I often concern myself with why it is that they are the first to criticize and the last to lift a finger.
c. When it comes to a faltering brother, why is it that we let pride creep in and decide the fate of a brother in Christ.
d. Isn’t that what the brother of the prodigal son dealt with.
1.) Luke 15:25-31
2.) When you a brother in sin, do you not go because of pride
3. Is it Ignorance?
a. Maybe those who do not go to the brother in sin, just don’t see it.
b. Oh but that can’t be the case, because some how we all know because of the talk.
B. Talk is cheap and painful
1. Without action talk is useless.
a. God gives us language and desire to fix things not just talk about what is going on
b. What good does it do if we sit around a talk about something anyway.
c. If nothing changes, what good has been done.
2. Gossip only hurts
a. It is so easy to sit back and not do anything and talk about how bad some people are and tell the neat little secrets.
b. Or even create secrets.
3. Proverbs 11:13 – "A gossip betrays a confidence, but a trustworthy man keeps a secret."
a. Gossip is found in a list of sin in 1 Corinthians 12
b. The worst thing about Gossip is that it is the one thing that can destroy a church
c. Talk creates problems that are not really there, and talk will destroy relationships of trust.
C. Paul says live by the Spirit.
1. 6:1 "Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently. But watch yourself, or you also may be tempted."
a. It takes a great deal of love and courage for us to approach an erring brother and seek to help him.
b. On the other hand it is easy to condemn him and then use the brother to make yourself look good
1.) That is what the Pharisee did in the parable of the Pharisee and the publican (Luke 18:9-14)
2.) The legalist rejoices when a brother falls, and often gives the matter wide publicity, because then he can boast about his own goodness and how much better his group is than the group to which the fallen brother belongs.
c. The contrasting attitude is the Spirit led brother.
1.) The law of Christ is to "love one another" (John 13:34; 15:12)
2.) A brother in Christ will approach an erring brother in love and gentleness, hoping for a change in life.
d. Paul is probably applying further the Lord’s instruction on reconciliation (Matt. 18:15-35)
1.) If your brother sins go talk to him privately, not for the purpose of winning an argument, but for the purpose of winning your brother.
2. verse 2 "Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ"
a. The word for burden in this verse is the carrying of a weight, something unusual in nature.
1.) We all understand that at times our hearts are burdened with the burdens of life.
2.) When a loved one dies.
3.) When we lose our jobs
4.) When the uncontrolled affects our life
b. It is in these times that we are carry each others burdens
1.) In the southern United States it is custom for a man to open the door for woman. It is customary for him to carry a bag of groceries for the elderly and help someone carry a heavy trunk.
2.) It should be customary for us, that when a brother or sister is hurting that we are there helping relieve that burden.
D. Instead of giving up, why don’t you learn to encourage
1. 1 Thessalonians 5:14 "And we urge you, brothers, warn those who are idle, encourage the timid, help the weak, be patient with everyone."
2. James 4:11,12 "Brothers, do not slander one another. Anyone who speaks against his brother or judges him speaks against the law and judges it. When you judge the law, you are not keeping it, but sitting in judgment on it."
II. Have you given up on yourself?
A. First of all let me say to anyone who is thinking about giving up on yourself, remember a truth.
1. You are only a failure when you quit trying. You are a success when you try.
2. So many people, today give up on being Christians because they know they can measure up to following every bit of the Bible.
3. Matter a fact, many do not become Christians later in life, because while young they think that each person must be perfect once they are baptized.
4. Where do we get such ideas. The Bible flat out tells each of us that we will not ever be perfect.
5. We will never reach the mark, but yet we still try to give up on ourselves.
B. Maybe the problem lies with our competitive spirits. (v. 3-4)
1. Each and everyone of us are unique.
a. We think a little differently
b. We see life through different eyes
c. We have different talents.
2. Oh boy do we have some things mixed up.
a. Let me tell you that preachers are just as bad if not worse with this.
b. As people we feel that we must be competitors with everything, but that just is not so.
c. You cannot base your standing with God off of someone else.
d. Look at these verses again
C. V. 5 " for each one should carry his own load."
1. A man in a supermarket was pushing a shopping cart which contained, besides groceries, a screaming a baby boy. As the man proceeded down the aisles, he kept saying, "keep calm, George. Don’t get excited, George. Don’t yell, George." A lady watched with great admiration and finally spoke up and said, "you are certainly to be commended for your patience in trying to quiet little George." "Lady," he said, "I’m George"
2. Raising may be a burden at times, but it is a load that we are given ultimately ourselves as parents.
3. The same is true of many things in life.
a. When Lucille Ball began studying to be an actress in 1927, she was told by the head instructor of her drama school, "Try any other profession, but acting." But we know the rest of the story. She did it anyway and was very successful.
b. Thomas Edison was probably one of the greatest inventors in American history. When he first attended school in Port Huron, Michigan, his teachers complained he was "too slow." He later said his genius was "one percent inspiration and 99 percent perspiration."
4. Sometimes we have to ignore the pain, the hurt, the negative feelings and bear our own burdens!
5. Psalm 139:14 "I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made…"
a. We are lot stronger that what we think we are.
b. We are the wonderful creation of God.
c. We can bear our own burdens.
Conclusion
I. Living by the Spirit is not a theological phrase that does not have practical significance.
A. This kind of living should be found in every Christian
B. We should never give up on ourselves or one another.
1. "One another" is one of the key phrases in the Christian’s vocabulary.
2. Love one another is found at least a dozen times in the New Testament
3. "pray one for another" (James 5:16)
4. "Edify one another" (1 Thess. 5:11)
5. "prefer one another" (Rom 12:10)
6. "Use hospitality one to another" (1 Peter 4:9), and many other like admonitions.
C. Living By the Spirit is a choice made by each of us.
1. Paul says we have a responsibility, a liability, and an accountability for each other.
a. He says gently restore the erring brother
b. He says bear one another’s burdens
2. In the process remember to keep you focus not on others but on Christ.
a. Christianity is not a competition of who will be the best Christian, but a race to the finish line.
b. When each of us cross that finish line, their will not be first and second, but all of us will find victory.
3. Paul said the Christian life is like a race in Philippians
a. Have you joined the race of eternal life?
b. Are you tired and bent over in pain because of the stinging darts of the devil.
c. Let us help.
