I. The Word:
Galatians 6:2 – “Bear one another’s burdens, and thereby fulfill the law of Christ.”
II. Reflection Questions:
1. What does it mean to “Bear a burden”?
2. What does it look like to belong to a church that does this well for one another?
3. Take a literal minute and ask yourself this question: who is someone in your church that you get the sense is burdened, and what are you willing to DO in order to bear that load for/with them?
I am always so optimistic about the church after our annual fast! Last week was fantastic for me personally, but also as a church member. The best part for me was gathering every night for worship and prayer with my spiritual family. If you did not get a chance to join us one of the nights, please make that a commitment for next year!
Hopefully you all were at service this past Saturday and heard from Pastor Chris…I love that guy! He talked about love, and the difference between modern “love” and gospel centered love based in Jesus. This week in Starter we will be expanding on that idea and thinking, meditating, discussing and taking action on how a church, assembly of disciples of Jesus, should love one another.
I chose this verse in Galatians 6 because it has deep implications, and is a great Gospel comprehension test. To the degree we are rolling around in the Gospel like a dog in the mud is the degree we will be able to “Bear one another’s burdens”! I also chose this picture of my Dad and myself at the top because he is a great burden carrier of mine, and I hope to be like him one day.
My dad saved our relationship when I was about 15 years old. We fought over a few things here and there when I was growing up, but for some reason me not feeding and watering the dog drove him mad! I have a vivid memory of a week of him coming into whatever room I was in, at least 2-3 times a day, and blowing up at me again and again over the heated topic. It was like a car trying to start-up over and over and over and over again. One day the following week Dad was ripping into me again like a hot knife through butter about the stupid dog. In the middle of his tantrum he just stop in mid sentence. It was strange. It was like someone came in and hit him in the face with a 2×4. I have never experienced anything like this with him in my long 15 years, nor ever since. Just stopped knifing me on a dime! He began eating his food again…silently, calmly, and disturbingly refreshed? After that awkward meal he never said another thing about the dog, and I never feed and water that dog again, he just did it.
To this day I have zero clue what happened to him at that meal table, but one thing was crystal clear, he changed. He no longer “yelled”, he no longer complained, and he no longer displayed an ounce of anger towards me…strange right? What I slowly began to notice was dad’s theology become his behavior. He believed then, and now, that Jesus lost so that he can win, He took the “L” so dad could get the “W”, that on the cross He took on the burden of feeding the dog so dad did not have to! Dad decided that our relationship was more valuable to him than the rule being followed.
This is the law of Christ! Burden carrying!
The law of reenactment is my earthly father’s golden rule. In reality, everyone is reenacting how their earthly father treated them (Think on that for a while). My dad just decided that his heavenly Father is a better script writer, life coach, GPS, and inspiration than his earthly one! I am just glad that I do not have to make that distinction!
Below is a selection from Tim Keller, quoting Jonathan Edwards, on todays verse. Enjoy.
Another text Edwards looks to more than once is Gal 6:1–10, especially verse 2, which enjoins us to “bear one another’s burdens.”10 What are these burdens? Paul has in view, at least partially, material and financial burdens, because Gal 6:10 tells us to “do good to all men, especially the household of faith.” Edwards (rightly, according to modern exegetes) understands “doing good” as including the giving of practical aid to people who need food, shelter, and financial help. Most commentators understand “burden-bearing” to be comprehensive. We share love and emotional strength with those who are sinking under sorrow; we share money and possessions with those who are in economic distress. But what does Paul mean when he says that burden-bearing “fulfills the law of Christ” (Gal 6:2)? Edwards calls this “the rules of the gospel.”11 Richard Longenecker agrees, calling this “prescriptive principles stemming from the heart of the gospel.” As Phil Ryken points out, the ultimate act of burden-bearing was substitutionary atonement in which Jesus bore the infinite burden of our guilt and sin. Again we see Paul reasoning that anyone who understands the gospel will share money and possessions with those with less of the world’s goods.
And if it is the gospel that is moving us to help the poor, Edwards reasons, our giving and involvement with the poor will be significant, remarkable, and sacrificial. ose who give to the poor out of a desire to comply with a moral prescription will always do the minimum. If we give to the poor simply because “God says so,” the next question will be “How much do we have to give so that we aren’t out of compliance?” at question and attitude shows that this is not gospel-shaped giving. In the last part of his discourse, Edwards answers the objection “You say I should help the poor, but I’m afraid I have nothing to spare. I can’t do it.” Edwards responds,
“In many cases, we may, by the rules of the gospel, be obliged to give to others, when we cannot do it without suffering ourselves . . . else how is that rule of bearing one another’s burdens fulfilled? If we never be obliged to relieve others’ burdens, but when we can do it without burdening ourselves, then how do we bear our neighbor’s burdens, when we bear no burdens at all?”
Edwards is arguing that if the basis for our ministry to the poor was simply a moral prescription, things might be different. But if the basis for our involvement with the poor is “the rules of the gospel,” namely substitutionary sacrifice, then we must help the poor even when we think “we can’t afford it.” Edwards calls the bluff and says, “What you mean is, you can’t help them without sacrificing and bringing suffering on yourself. But that’s how Jesus relieved you of your burdens! And that is how you must minister to others with their burdens.”
In short, Edwards teaches that the gospel requires us to be involved in the life of the poor—not only financially, but personally and emotionally. Our giving must not be token but so radical that it brings a measure of suffering into our own lives. And we should be very patiently and nonpaternalistically open-handed to those whose behavior has caused or aggravated their poverty. These attitudes and dimensions of ministry to the poor proceed not simply from general biblical ethical principles but from the gospel itself.
May we be a church who willingly burden’s ourselves with other’s burdens as we fix our eyes on our heavenly Father made flesh!
City Life Starter 
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