1.
Please
pray with me. May the words of my mouth
and the meditation of our hearts be pleasing in your sight, O Lord, our Rock,
and our Redeemer. Amen. The message from God’s Word today comes from
Galatians 6:1-10 and 14-18. It focuses
specifically on Galatians 6:1-5, which
says, “1Brothers, if anyone is
caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a
spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted. 2Bear
one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. 3For if
anyone thinks he is something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself. 4But
let each one test his own work, and then his reason to boast will be in himself
alone and not in his neighbor. 5For each will have to bear his own
load.” The message is entitled, “Bearing One Another’s Burdens,” dear
brothers and sisters in Christ.
2.
On this July 4th
weekend we celebrate the freedoms we enjoy as a nation it’s good that we
reflect on the first few lines of the Declaration of Independence: “We hold these truths to be self-evident that
all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain
unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of
Happiness.” Reflecting on these
words, Dr. Dale Meyer of Concordia Seminary of St. Louis has written. Is it self-evident that we’re all created
equal when you listen to the words we sometimes use to describe others? Is the
right to life and liberty self-evident to terrorists and their
sympathizers? Is the right to life
self-evident when the pro-choice movement denies that right to the unborn? Is
it the pursuit of happiness or just happiness that is self-evident today?
We expect instant happiness, happiness on demand, change the channel, change
the marriage if you’re not satisfied…rather than the pursuit of happiness
through sacrifice and hard work?.
3.
As we celebrate
our nation’s independence is it self-evident that these unalienable rights of “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness”
come to us from a Creator? These things
were self-evident to the founding fathers. They were learned men who had studied
deeply about human nature and how we can best govern ourselves. 240 years
later we could benefit from renewed study and appreciation of the assumptions
underlying our precious independence.
4.
Thinking along
this line of our independence and freedom we have here as a nation leads us
into what Paul is writing to the Galatian church in Galatians chapter 6. Here we see that the Apostle Paul calls for
us as Christians to bear with one another’s burdens in love. In order to do this Paul wants us to restore
a Christian who is caught in a sin in a gentle and caring manner. The whole
purpose is to restore that person in repentance and faith, not to cut him off
from Church fellowship. That goes along
with what Dr. Meyer was saying earlier.
Do we talk down about people around us because of their reputation or do
we seek to help them and build them up. If
we truly believe that all life is holy and precious before God, how much are we
willing to help out a pregnant unmarried mother monetarily and with
encouragement to help her in her predicament?
And if we see our fellow neighbors having a hard time because they have
recently lost their jobs or are dealing with the death of a loved one, are we
willing to help them out so as to ease their burden? I even think about supporting our armed servicemen
and women who are fighting on our behalf to protect the freedoms that we enjoy
as a nation. Do we encourage them in
their Christian calling and support their act of service for our country?
5.
When Paul
says that bearing one another’s burdens fulfills the law of Christ, he’s
referring back to John 13:34-35, where our Lord Jesus says, 34A new commandment I give to
you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love
one another. 35By this all people will know that you are my
disciples, if you have love for one another.”
The law of God can be summed up in one word: LOVE.
Love for God and love for our neighbor.
Fulfilling this law of love, requires that we know and live under the
love of Christ ourselves. In fact, we
learn to love because God first loved us in sending His Son Jesus Christ to
suffer and die on the cross for our sins.
6.
Take Nicole
Heintz, for example. She stopped for gas on her way to work as chilly winter
winds whipped through the air in Apple Valley, Minnesota. While she was pumping
gas, she saw a man crying as he stared at the gas pump. In the car next to him
were his wife and two teenage girls. The girls were huddled under a blanket in
the back seat. She approached the man and asked what was wrong. He replied,
"I can't even provide for my family."
So Nicole responded. She offered to buy gas for the family. She said, "Jesus Christ the Son of God died to provide
for you." And she showed that man and his family how true it was. In
addition to the gas for their car, Nicole happened to have a bag of give-away
clothes in her back seat. She had just cleaned out her closet. Nicole invited
the mother and her daughters to take their pick of what they wanted. Then more
people joined in. Someone gave the family a gift card. Another man gave his
jacket to the father. Nicole said, "The
love of God can be so contagious. God's love is greater than anything, and we
get to be a part of that love changing lives." That is freedom-freedom from being weighed
down by your burdens and freedom for bringing Christ's blessing to
others.
7.
In John 13
Jesus displays for us a classic example of humility and service to one’s
neighbor. There in the Upper Room Jesus
washed His disciple’s feet. Jesus knew
who He was and the task that God the Father had sent Him to accomplish in bringing
about our salvation. Often we think that
greatness means having others serve us. But
Christ shows His true greatness and His love toward us in that He came to wash
away our sins, even though it cost Him His life. True humility isn’t “Aw shucks, I can’t do that.
That’s beneath me.” It’s a
commitment to denying ourselves in service in Jesus’ name as a child of God. This
allows us to get beyond a self-consciousness that keeps us from trying and
doing.
8.
But, here’s
where we may become confused. In Galatians
chapter 6 Paul says in one place, “Bear
one another’s burdens” and in another place “each will have to bear his own load.” How are both of these statements of Paul good
and true in their own right? What Paul
means here for us as Christians is that we’re to be available to help bear the
various burdens of others, but that there are some loads that each of us must
carry and accept responsibility for ourselves.
When Paul talks about each one bearing his own load the word that he
uses from the greek is phortion, which
refers to a soldier’s pack. In other
words, when it comes to our salvation we can’t believe in and follow Jesus for
someone else. We can only believe and
follow Jesus from our own personal faith and conviction that God has given to
us through His Word and Sacraments. What
Paul is saying is that we are to bear one another’s burdens as Christians, but
when it comes to our salvation, each of us must live out our lives of faith by
ourselves and not for someone else.
9.
In Galatians
6:9-10 Paul writes, “9And let
us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not
give up. 10So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to
everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith.” As we as Christians bear one another
burdens there will be times that we will grow tired and weary. In fact, it can be hard to carry out the day
to day struggle against our own sinful flesh where we sin against God and our
neighbor in thought, word and deed. Paul
says in Philippians 2:12-13, “12Therefore,
my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but
much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, 13for
it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.” As
Christians we are renewed for this effort as we continually remember what our
Lord Jesus did to win the victory over sin, death and the devil for us. In fact, we are encouraged as we are assured
that all we do for Him is not just temporary, but has eternal dimensions.
10.
As
we learned in our Gospel lesson for today from Luke 10, Christ sends us out “as
lambs in the midst of wolves”, bearing in our bodies the sacrifice
of His cross, by which “the kingdom of God has come near.” Wherever Christ enters in with this Gospel,
Satan is cast out and falls “like lightning from heaven.” For
this reason we don’t “boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus
Christ” as Paul tells us in Galatians. Rejoicing in this Gospel, we “bear
one another’s burdens” in love, according to “the law of Christ.” Amen.
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