The Burden of Fellowship

Automated transcript of the sermon audio, generated with OpenAI Whisper (small.en). It has not been checked against the recording and may contain errors, especially in names and Scripture references.

For right now we are here to gather corporately and to worship our great God and so our help is in the name of the Lord Our scripture reading for the call to worship is Psalm 119 1 through 8 Blessed are those whose way is blameless who walk in the law of the Lord Blessed are those who keep his testimonies who seek him with their whole heart Who also do no wrong but walk in his ways You have commanded your precepts to be kept diligently. Oh that my ways may be steadfast in keeping your statutes. Then I shall not be put to shame, have in my eyes fixed on all your commandments. I will praise you with an upright heart when I learn your righteous rules. I will keep your statutes, do not utterly forsake me. Father God, we are your people and you have called us to be holy as you are holy. We come before you to give thanks and draw near to your throne of grace and to worship you in your holiness. You are light and you in you there is no darkness at all. Be our help and strength as we seek you with

our whole hearts and cause us to walk in the light as you are in the light. As we worship you may we clothe ourselves with humility toward one another for you opposed the proud but give grace to the humble. Yours is the glory and it belongs to no other. We are here to praise your name on high and to give thanks. Help us to do this through your spirit and we pray this in the name of your Son Jesus Christ, amen. Which is more to be cherished? Fellowship or sin? Yeah, it’s not a trick question. Of course even asking the question seems ridiculous, right? So for the faithful Christian, fellowship is infinitely more valuable than sin, yet for plenty of us, by looking at our lives, it’s hard to tell how we would answer this question. By my calculation, I’m not a math major, but I see four options, four things that can happen when we see a brother in sin. When we see a brother in sin, one of four things can happen. We We can do nothing the wrong way.

We can do something about it the wrong way. You see where I’m going with this? We can do nothing the right way. We can do something the right way. So two wrongs, two rights. When doing nothing the wrong way, we might just be silent because we don’t want to do the work to get qualified to speak into the lives of our brothers. requires dealing with logs in our own eyes and besides who are we to judge. So we end up saying nothing dealing with neither our own sin nor our brothers sin.

This then makes sin enticing in the lives of our brothers and even ourselves and invites God’s chastisement. That’s bad. Other times the second scenario, the second option, is we do something the wrong way. We confront hypocritically, perhaps blinded by our own sin, or we confront in anger. Ironically we may even justify our sinful anger by styling it righteous, even though no one in that moment who’s observing would accuse us of righteousness. In the third scenario that is doing nothing the right way, we leave room for the Spirit to work humbly allowing us to, allowing love then to cover the sin. That is allowable when the sin is against us personally or is of a minor or an accidental nature such that we don’t have to go after it. That is not to be confused with the laziness or the disobedience of the first scenario doing nothing for the wrong reasons. This is doing nothing for the right reasons.

It takes faith to believe that the Spirit is at work in your brother who has wronged you, who has sinned maybe even against you. However major or minor or that wrong might be. And then last, we might do something the right way. We ensure that our own sins are confessed. We’re prayed up. There are no logs in our eyes impairing our own vision to keep us from removing the specs in our brothers eyes. We check our hearts and our motives and then we speak with grace, with patience, with faith. We call the sin what it is. We exhort, we confront, we encourage, or even plead as necessary. And who benefits the most from this?

everyone. We benefit when we speak, we benefit when we hear. And obviously of the four options that I’ve suggested, we prefer to be faithful, to do things the right way. Whether something or nothing, Matthew 7, Matthew 18, Galatians 6, they give us direction into how we would do this well. And interestingly, the writers of those books don’t give an apology for it, they just give direction. and we then would do well to obey. So, no doubt for all of us, that brings to mind things that we need to confess. And if that does bring to mind things that you need to confess privately before the Lord, the good news is this is the time built into our service to do just that.

And if you’re interested and able, you are encouraged to kneel in silent confession, and I will pray for us in just a moment. So let’s pray. Father, our culture cynically regards Christians as hypocritical and churches as full of hypocrites. And too often this charge is valid. We confess that we are generally more violent with the sins of others than we are with our own. We do not have the faith to trust that you are at work in our brothers. We do not have the faith to believe that obedient and even violent, Dealing with our own sin will lead to blessing rather than dealing with the logs in our own eyes that impair our vision.

We just try to see around them and the results then don’t help anyone. But you’re gracious even in this. You use sinners to help sinners. You use broken vessels to communicate truth one to another. Please for our part make us those who love fellowship more than we love our own comfort or our own sin. And we thank you for the help of your spirit in this.

We pray now in the name of your Son Jesus Christ, Amen. You’re invited to stand. Our promise of forgiveness this morning comes from Colossians chapter 1 verses 21 through 23 where Paul said this, and you who once were alienated and hostile in mind doing evil deeds, he is now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before Him, if indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven. Praise God for His Word that does give us direction in this. And He tells us if we just follow His directions, He will present us to His Son pure and spotless. Christian, you are part of the bride of Christ. He is personally invested in presenting you to himself pure and spotless.

And he’s going to do that by using you to confront and love one another. So that does give us plenty of reason to sing. We’re going to do that now. Reading this morning is from Galatians, Chapter 6, Verses 1-5. I’ll be in the ESV. So Galatians Chapter 6, verse 1, brothers, 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. Bear one another’s burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ. For if anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself. But let each one test his own work, and then his reason to boast will be in himself alone and not in his neighbor.

For each will have to bear his own load.” And let’s pray. Father, as we read Paul’s words in this passage, we’re reminded of the grace of Christ through whom we have been adopted. Because of his supreme act of love, we have been ransomed and the demands of the law have been met. And even though the law is good and still exists, it no longer has power to condemn us. By your mercy you have brought us into the law of Christ which is founded on love. We remember Jesus’ words when he said, this is my commandment that you love one another as I have loved you. And so we pray that you would cause each one of us to grow in our love for you and each other. May you protect our fellowship from Satan’s attempts to destroy it. Everywhere we look, hatred, envy, and divisions are on the rise. People clamor for peace, but there is no peace because men do not love according to the law of Christ. We pray that the love of Christ we enjoy act as leaven within those in our lives who are not saved. May you grant them salvation from their futile way of thinking. We take confidence in

Jesus’ promise to build his church and that the gates of hell will not withstand it. We pray that you crush every vain and lofty argument raised against the knowledge of you. May this be true of every human institution including our government. We pray for the persecuted church around the world and ask that they be strengthened by your spirit to stand firm. May they be found faithful no matter the cost and we ask that their suffering further the spread of the gospel. May you likewise increase our resolve to resist evil where we can and to join in the sufferings of Christ where we cannot. We pray for those in our assembly who are facing being fired for resisting current mandates from the government. We ask that you give them wisdom as they make decisions regarding their future and we pray that you would put an end to these tyrannical actions and give us leaders who will walk in the ways of righteousness. How foolish it is for men to deny your sovereignty over their lives. They act like they are

masters of their own ship and little do they know that their ship floats in the palm of your hand. We refuse to be like them. We acknowledge our utter weakness and rely solely on the strength that you provide. Because of this we once again bring our supplications to you, knowing that you hear, you care, and you’re able to do above and beyond what we can ask or think. We continue to uphold the Fundan family in their time of grief. We pray that they would know the peace which passes all understanding. We ask that the gospel words that were spoken at the memorial service would find good soil in the hearts of the unbelievers that attended.

The prophet Isaiah, speaking of Christ, said that he would bind up the brokenhearted and give the oil of gladness instead of mourning. And may that be true in this case as the family casts their cares upon Jesus. We continue to ask complete healing from cancer for Debbie. We thank you for the doctors and the gift of modern medicine, but our hope is not in those things. We thank you that she and Dave are strong in faith and holy trusting in you. May this trial and their walk of faith result in more glory being given to you. We pray for healing from or in some other way dealing with health for those in some way dealing with health issues.

Julie Ratzlaff, Marjorie Marjania, Jack Frazier, Stephanie Hurd, Jeff Hathaway, Morgan Higgins, Nadine Rothenberger, Jennifer Funden, Mary Kay Durden, Whitney Harsh, and any others I haven’t mentioned. We ask for total healing first, but if that’s not your will, we pray for relief from the particular infirmity and abundant grace to joyfully submit to your will. We lift up our homes and pray that you would cause each one to grow in grace. Bless the marriages. Strengthen those that are faltering. Help our parents to raise their children in the admonition and nurture the Lord and to do nothing to exasperate them. Cause a deep and abiding faith to take root in our children so that they surpass their parents.

May those who know the ache of a wayward loved one see the day when that loved one repents from their sin and unbelief. We thank you for the way you have sheltered our school and church from all the COVID craziness. May you continue to do so. Give our elders and school boards wisdom to know how to respond to the ever-changing demands made upon us. We pray for clear direction regarding a new place for the church and school. We pray for the various outreach ministries we support. Antioch Adoption, Project 92, I2, and Good Shepherd’s Children Home, may each of these see much fruit come from their efforts. Give them wisdom as they navigate the challenges they face in their respective ministries.

Protect them from the attacks of the enemy and keep them from going astray into a false gospel. Father, the evil one has blinded much of the world to what true love is. In its place, all manner of perversion and wickedness has been substituted. Only the light of your gospel can open their eyes to see. Jesus said that the world will know we are Christians by our love. And so we ask that you cause our love to abound in such a way that it presents a compelling testimony to those who are being saved. And we pray all of this in the name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, amen. Father God, thank you for your word. Cause your word to have its way with our hearts.

You have commanded your precepts to be kept diligently. So as we sit under your word, cause it to cut us up and rearrange us in a way that makes the body grow so that it can build itself up in love. We ask this in Jesus name, amen. When I knew I would be speaking this morning, I thought it would be encouraging to talk about something I think we need to grow more in as a body.

While I don’t believe every member is failing here, I think it would be good to consider the purpose of our body life and how we are to help one another with our burdens, our sins, and our pursuit of holiness. We have a growing fellowship, and my goal is to get us to think about our fellowship and its relationship to discipleship. Our relationships with one another are all gifted differently. Each of us may enjoy many godly friendships on different levels, and no matter what level a friendship may be at, The purpose is to be a godly and growing friend. Our connections go deeper than a sports team, a hobby, or any job that we would do.

It is grounded and rooted in Jesus Christ. He is Lord. We are his people. It is a shared life. I believe it would be safe to say that the most challenging part of our fellowship is saying the hard things that need to be said to one another. We tend to shy away from confrontation or conflict. We forget that iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another, Proverbs 27, 17. Some of our relationships lack sparks.

What conversations have you put off that you should have had with a brother? Where have you failed to challenge or push a sister to holiness? Each of us is learning and growing in our roles and responsibilities and need the help of others. Sometimes that comes in a form of encouragement, and other times it comes in as a rebuke. As God’s people, we are in this race together. If you are going to finish this race well, it is dependent on God’s grace and us growing in nerve to pursue hard conversations for the sake of presenting everyone mature in Christ. Someone might struggle with having a concern for their brother or sister in the Lord because they don’t see God’s people as their responsibility.

They think I’ll deal with my sin, they can deal with theirs. In Western culture, it’s just apparent that faith has become more of a personal relationship with God, it’s about Jesus and me, and this is wrong. Paul says in Ephesians 2.4, “‘But God, being rich in mercy, “‘because of the great love with which He loved us, “‘even when we were dead in our trespasses, “‘made us alive together with Christ.‘” Consider together with Christ. Salvation is God bringing a whole lot of different people into his life. Christ is the vine, we are the branches. In Christ our life will be a growing life. Apart from Christ, there is no growing life.

And apart from his people, there is no growing life. We need both Christ and his people. Each of us is at different levels when it comes to our sanctification and growth and holiness. The gate to growth is our fellowship. Through our fellowship, we learn to love people as he has loved us and we learn to obey all that Jesus has commanded us. Fellowship is more than just getting along. I like the idea fellowship is discipleship. You cannot go one without the other. It’s like watching a sermon online. What good is learning all that Christ has commanded if you never have the opportunity to practice that in a community?

Before we get into Galatians, let me warn each of us, we will not be able to carry the burden of fellowship unless we are fully committed to Jesus Christ. He is our standard. As a disciple, we are called to follow him and to love him with all our heart, with all our soul, with all our mind, and with all our strength. We are loyal to him first. We are a Christian first. If we do not fear him, then we won’t be obedient to all that he has commanded us. May his grace strengthen us so that our fellowship may be an opportunity to where we all can be laboring in joy to cultivate a Trinitarian community of worshiping, maturing disciples who acknowledge Jesus Christ as Lord over all the world.

Please open your Bibles to Galatians 6. I will read it again. I know Jim read it, but it’s a good passage. Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, least you to be tempted. Bear one another’s burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ. For if anyone thinks he has something, when he has nothing, he deceives himself. But let each one test his own work, and then his reason to boast will be in himself alone and not his neighbor, for each will have to bear his own load. My first point is the spiritual. Here in Galatians 6.1, we find Paul addressing what believers are to do when they see a brother caught in a sin.

Paul here is focusing more on the spiritual than on the sinner. In Galatians 5, Paul already went into detail about what sins a brother might get caught in. It wasn’t an exhaustive list, but it was a pretty good one. These sins are serious because Paul tells us that those who do such things will not inherit the Kingdom of God. So when we find our brother caught in a sin, we must take action. I want to look at this in two different ways. Sometimes your brother is caught in a sin that is a personal offense towards you. Other times your brother’s sin has come to light. Maybe a husband is caught in an adulterous relationship.

Perhaps a wife has disrespected her husband in a way that many in her body have come to find out. A father’s anger has boiled to the point of provoking his children to anger. A student lies to her teacher has been detected. The source of gossip has been found. Regardless of how the brother is caught in sin, it needs to be dealt with in a Matthew 18 way. Turn to Matthew 18. I’ll read verse 15 through 17. If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother.

But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses. If you refuse to listen to them, tell it to the church. And if you refuse to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector. This is the process every time. Like every day Matthew 18 is taking place, unless if you’re not being proactive. When it comes to going to to someone who has offended us or is caught in a sin, we must remember that we are going to gain them back, to win them back into fellowship. This is the goal of church discipline at every level.

It is not only the responsibility of the elders to pursue a sinning brother, this is the responsibility of the whole body. Most times the situation is resolved by the sinning brother being confronted and taking responsibility and owning his sin. If your brother does not listen to you, then you need to take two or three others along that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses. This is always, there are always two sides to every story and you need to remember that. Once you hear one side and you think that’s right, but then you hear the other one, so you gotta get them in the same room.

So bringing others along with them to hear about the sides will help figure out the situation, plus they might be able to bring some wisdom or counsel. It does not always work out that the one confronting is right. If your friends are faithful, they might even tell you that you’re the one that’s wrong and you need to repent. It is why we always need to bathe our hearts in gospel truth and humility when we deal with one another in a personal offense or something that we see within the body. But if the sinning brother refuses to listen and repent, it would continue to move forward towards stage three discipline. And when I say move forward, These situations take time and more conversations.

It’s more than just jumping through hoops and checking off boxes. It’s why we need grace to do church discipline. Stage three is when you would take it to the church. And while this does not say this explicitly, it would be wise for the elders to try to win the brother before announcing it to the church. Maybe they will be able to persuade him in a way that you were not. Once it is brought before the church, it is our duty to pray for our brother or sister who is caught in sin and to pursue him, to restore him back to fellowship. That is key, back to fellowship.

The last stage is the fourth stage where the church just no longer can affirm that person’s citizenship in heaven. And they have refused to listen to counsel, to actually act like a Christian, and they continue to pursue their sin rather than Jesus Christ. When it comes to dealing with our brothers in sin, There are qualifications that are required. Our attitude and behavior can disqualify us from going and confronting our brother. Here Paul tells the Galatians, you who are spiritual. These are the ones that are responsible for restoring anyone caught in the transgression. What does it mean to be spiritual, at least in the sense Paul is talking about here?

It would be a Christian who is keeping in step with the Holy Spirit. The spiritual are those who are in Christ. Paul wants the Galatians to know that they will only bite and devour one another apart from the Spirit. John MacArthur says spiritual believers are those walking in the Spirit, filled with the Spirit, and manifesting the fruit of the Spirit, who by virtue of their spiritual strength are responsible for those who are fleshly. The Spirit is what enables the believers to pursue their neighbors good. The flesh itself only leads to death. To be spiritual would include being a peacemaker. To be a peacemaker would mean not treating your sinning brother or sister as an enemy. And so if you, and this is why I like Galatians 1, it reminds me of when I am even going to my, whether it’s my children or my wife or anybody, like I need to make sure that my heart is right and that I actually am in step with the Spirit. Otherwise, it’s not going to be pretty. We should not be fighting our brothers, but instead be fighting for them. Peacemakers handle conflict in a

way that honors God and builds up those caught in any sin. The spiritual are those who win no one to overlook an offense. There is a time to restore and a time to overlook. First Peter 4a8 tells us, above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins. What kind of love would it take to cover a multitude of sins? Matthew Henry gives a good word. He says, Christians ought to love one another, which implies affection for their persons, a desire of their welfare, and a hardy endeavor to promote it. This mutual affection must not be cold but fervent. That is sincere, strong, and lasting. One excellent effect of it is that it will cover a multitude of sins. In other words, weak love doesn’t have the nerve to cover what needs to be covered. Now understand, love cannot and will not cover all sins. There is a time when godly love confronts. We must learn apply wisdom and discernment here. I mean I would add that if you want to show that you hate your brother, don’t even pursue them. Don’t even go to them and

tell them their fault because like Jesus did not leave us in our sin and so we ought to be making sure that we are demonstrating that kind of love to one another because I know that if I was in sin or going in a direction that you thought was ungodly or even a hint of that, I would love it if you would actually tell me so I can know that. Otherwise, like, I feel like you guys are okay with the way I’m going and how am I supposed to learn and grow if you guys are not having the nerve to even, you know, confront me, whether let alone the people that are in your pews, in your home, or in this community. The spiritual are those who take responsibility for their sins and own them. A growing Even maturity here would look like a Christian who deals with and seeks forgiveness for their sins before being confronted or found out.

A Christian who is not dealing with their sin is not qualified to restore their brother. I remember when I first became a Christian, I had given up on an addiction to porn and I hated it. I came to know the Lord and I could have just let this go and moved on and my wife would have never have known, but the Spirit just kept on nagging me and nagging me. And I actually came and confessed it to her on my own. And I feel like that was one of the ways or the reasons why God has actually blessed, at least our marriage, is because I went and showed that like one, I had wronged her, I wronged the Lord, and I wanted her to know that.

And so like I wasn’t interested in something like that being found out. So it is important that if we see sin that we deal with it in a biblical way. Consider the words, yeah, a Christian who is not dealing with their sin is not qualified to restore their brother. Consider the words of our Lord Jesus in Matthew 7, 3-5. Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye but do not notice the log dead is in your own eye?

Or how can you say to your brother, let me take that speck out of your eye when the log that is in your own, when there is a log in your own eye, you hypocrite. First take out the log out of your own eye and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye. Anytime that you are going to your brother and you are not dealing with your sin, it’s gonna just, it is not gonna work out. I kind of liken to this thing, I don’t even know if I have the right word, but it the bot box, like back in like 128, the students would put these boxes on which I don’t think they could see and they would just literally run at each other and just people got hurt and like that’s that is what it’s like running with a log in your eye like you were gonna hurt somebody you’re gonna hurt yourself so like it is important to know that like you can’t expect your brother to actually pursue holiness is if you’re not pursuing holiness in your own life so wherever you are lacking that get after that so that way when

you see your brother struggling, you can actually go and help him. Now considering taking responsibility for our sin and owning them, being spiritual doesn’t mean that you’re without sin because 1 John 1-8 tells us that if we say we have no sin, we’ll deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. We are sinners who will continue to sin until the Lord brings us home or comes back to get us. The question is, are you confessing and repenting of your sin as needed? Are you dealing with your sin in the way the Bible instructs you to deal with it?

If you are, you’re qualified and commanded to restore anyone caught in any transgression. And oftentimes the Lord is going to use your struggles and where you’ve fallen and actually repented to help your brother because you kind of can understand where they’re at and you know the process and you know how to encourage and push them to holiness. I love the idea of restore. The term signifies the idea used regarding setting a bone, a broken bone, or putting a dislocated limb back in place. The spiritual are those who pursue those sinning that they would be set in joint again. Any member that is out of joint in our body will only hinder us from being a being able to build each other up in love. Paul reminds the Galatians of the need of gentleness in this passage as well.

Often those who are treated in a rough way end up despised in the Lord’s discipline. Have you ever been encountered someone who was in a position to help you but because they lack gentleness you didn’t want what was best for you? Like I experienced that not necessarily in a community way but I had to go get some wisdom teeth pulled out and you guys might know this I’ve shared it before, but I think the doctor that was going to take my wisdom teeth out was a bad person. He literally tortured me. I would have rather my teeth to rot than have to go through that again. Again, when you are in a position of actually helping and blessing your brother, you need to do that with gentleness.

Otherwise, they’re going to run. They’re not going to want that.

They’re not going to want to hear what you have to say, and they certainly are not going to be encouraged by you coming to them. Without gentleness, one will not be able to restore anyone caught in the sin. When our confronting and rebukes are bathed in the spirit of gentleness, it is a seed that God can grow towards forgiveness, reconciliation, and fellowship. At the end of verse 1, Paul warns the spiritual. He says, keep watch on yourself, at least you to be tempted. All believers can be tempted to sin, including those who are spiritual at present. Today you are walking in step with the Spirit. Tomorrow you’re out of step. We are all prone to stumble. It would seem that Paul is warning those that are spiritual to keep watch on their pride and not to get puffed up about how well they are doing. Pride comes before the fall. Those who fail to keep an eye on their soul are going to be those who become disqualified eventually. Proverbs 4.23 reminds us of this it says keep your heart with all

villages I love to say violence for from it flow the springs of life our hearts are like a garden and without keeping keeping it and working it it becomes full of weeds you must keep watch on the weeds of sin taking root in your heart and pull them as needed you must never forget that we are sinners and if we are not careful we can be lured into the temptation of sin as well and sometimes you’re gonna have to help your brother with a sin that actually comes with temptation and so like if you if you’re not standing on solid ground there you are you’re likely to fall into that trap as well. Sometimes just because you’re going to help out a brother doesn’t necessarily mean that you’re actually free from actually running into that sin as well. The other temptation is that we can be tempted to treat our sinning brothers in a way we would not want to be treated. How would you want to be handled if you were caught in a sin or if you needed help in terms of growing in your own discipleship. Kind of

be that kind of Christian with the person that you’re going to. Verse 1 here helps us to understand the need to be godly and growing for the sake of helping our brother or sister who we find in any transgression. But what do you do after we have gone and to restore them? This brings me to my second point. Bear burdens. Verse 2, bear one another’s burdens and so fulfill the law Christ. Paul goes from restoring a brother to burying a brother’s burdens.

The idea seems to be that it is not enough just to get a brother to turn from his sin, but to also come alongside of him and carry the burden with him. And it’s not only this, like I mean we all have burdens, but you know and some of us are actually fighting those and not sinning, but some of us have sinned and so in one sense if you bring a brother and they repent, you know you should help them carry that burden so they can continue to grow, but also know your brother and sisters burdens to where you can actually, you know, carry those with them as well. It is more than just keeping them accountable and but it’s about being available to them for counsel and encouragement because just because we repent does not mean that we are in the clear. Temptations abound and here is where the enemy of our soul turns up the heat. We are always fighting temptations and to bear one another’s burdens is help others fight for holiness and purity. Paul tells the Galatians to bear one another’s burdens

and that this fulfills the law of Christ. Back in Galatians 5.14 Paul mentioned to the Galatians, for the whole law is fulfilled in one word, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. This is where the rubber meets the road in our fellowship. If our fellowship does not lead to caring for one another and our burdens, we have failed with the opportunity to serve one another in our fellowship. Love is not active when in we are not bearing other our brothers burdens to this we are called. Now we must understand that burdens can be anything from the heart the mind or the physical. Burdens come in all shapes and sizes and when it comes to hearing and bearing one another’s burdens nothing is off-limits. We need to look around and consider like within our own community or homes, like those things that God has shown us that people are struggling with and we need to, you know, be in step with the Spirit and go and try to help them bear those burdens.

This is the burden of fellowship, is that we have a responsibility for one another. We’re not to leave each other where we are. We are to continuing to find the relationships that God has given us and use those as a way to encourage and influence them towards being holy.

When we bear one another’s burden, it allows us to run this race with endurance that is set before us, Hebrews 12-1. The one thing that will keep us from being faithful in our duty for our brothers is pride and being self-conceited. It is why we are going to be faithful servants to the Lord Jesus with the burdens of our people, we must consider our attitude and behaviors in our work. And this brings us to my last point, which talks about the work of ministry that each of us would be doing.

For if anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself. But let each one test his own work and in his reason to boast will be in himself alone and not in his neighbor. For each will have to bear his own load. Paul has already reminded the Galatian believers not to become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another in Galatians 5, 26. If we are going to honor Jesus with our fellowship and discipleship, we must regard our work before the Lord. We must examine and test our attitudes and behaviors when serving our brothers and sisters for their good. What would Jesus think about how you’re going about it? Would he be okay with how you’re going about that and in terms of like, is it gonna be a blessing to others?

The work of ministry is not a competition. Do not worry about how God is using another brother and sister. Like He has given you your own talents and gifts for the sake of building up this body. So know what He has given you and how He’s gifted you and you be faithful. And let your other brother or sister be faithful and don’t envy the gifts that they have that you may not have. God is the one who gives the grace that we might run for his honor and glory. He does not give it so we can envy one another in our work of ministry. We must daily humble ourselves and remember that we are not God and to be faithful to the people he has in our lives.

If we take on the attitude that we are better than those in our homes, in our community, or even this community, we will only lose influence in the lives of those that depend on us. You know oftentimes when you think that you’re just like like hot-stod on a gold platter, you just that’s when you’re gonna fall. You think that you’re just special because of doing this or doing that. And we should be faithful but at the end of the day everything that you have has been given to you by God and we need to remember to be thankful to Him for that and to remember that apart from His grace we would be nothing. And so we need to remember that it is a call to always depend and rely on Him for our strength.

Because if we’re doing it in the flesh, again I’ve stated it, we will only cause problems for ourselves and for our brothers and sisters. We must also put on humility. Do you, you know, these things that we do, like humility will keep us grounded. You know, when we remember who God is and that we’re His servant, like it’s a way of giving thanks and we can be faithful to him in that. To be humble would mean seeing everything from our sanctification, our talents gifts, they’re all from him. They have been given for our neighbors progress and joy in the faith. When we fail to have a godly attitude we only become like the Pharisees who were proud of themselves and did not regard the Lord or their neighbors good. Each of us has to build our own load. The load here is not the same as verse 2. God will judge us according to the work that we do do. Are you going first as a Christian? The result of not paying attention to your heart is the matter of not being found faithful. Like just because someone else is godly and growing does not mean that you are

Godly and growing. And so we need to consider like our own load, like what is God calling us to. I mean because it’s great to help other people but like if you’re not taking care of your own load then it’s gonna be a problem. So and God will judge us according to the work that we do do. 1 Corinthians 3, 13 through 15 tells us, each one’s work will become manifest for the day will disclose it because it will be revealed by fire. The fire will test what sort of work each has done. If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. If anyone’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire. We must take responsibility for ourselves with regard to our, just our attitudes, motives, and what the ministry that we do do. Each of us is He’s gonna give an account for what we did do in this local body, and it’s just more reason to praise God for what He has given and the grace that He’s lavished on us.

It is also a reason to go after the work that honors Him and blesses your neighbor. One question I wanna ask is, what is your goal and purpose with the relationships God has given you? I love this quote from Trellis and the Vine, and it would be something to be worth thinking about. The goal is to move people forward in holy living and knowledge of God, whether they are facing problems or not. This is why we proclaim Christ, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom that we may present everyone mature in Christ, Colossians 1.28. For some practical ideas, the best way to help your people around you is to be godly and growing yourself.

what logs do you have that you have not dealt with? And, you know, are you qualified to go to your brother in any specific sin that they might be caught in? Husbands and fathers, what burdens do your wife and children have that you’re not carrying or you’re not helping them with? It’s our responsibility to lead our homes, to shepherd them, and that includes understanding the burdens that they have and making sure that we are, you know, dealing with those for the sake of their own holiness and growth. You know, you know, being a husband and a father is a high call and a lot of responsibility. And this passage has always encouraged me to remember that when I go to my family, when they’re in sin, that there is a way that I am called to handle them.

And two, I need to make sure that I’m being spiritual. and mothers. For the older Saints, what burdens do our younger mothers have that you see that you haven’t carried or you’re not even interested in taking responsibility for if you aren’t? Those are some things that you should consider. You know, we all need help. And I think the older women are to be teaching the younger women to love their children and husbands. And so this is a way for you to be growing in that, but also to be helping those that are younger growing in that too as well. Think about how you’re dealing with your sin. You know, are you confessing and repenting to those around you when you sin and fail? Are you going to them before you are found out? If you are not getting after your sin, how are you going to restore your brother who needs your help? Learn to live in such a way that love covers a multitude of sins.

Brotherly affection needs to increase in your heart for the saints as you are rubbing shoulders with them each week. And there’s lots of opportunities. And one of the things I did want to make sure I pointed was just having those hard conversations. There are many times when we either don’t feel like going and talking to somebody and that with something that we saw. Maybe we just are too scared. We don’t have the courage. But if we are going to be a growing body, It has to include these conversations that we just don’t want to have. How is your brother or sister going to know if you don’t go to them? It’s one thing if you can cover that, and it’s done.

It’s fine. I’ve done that plenty of times. There are times to pray about these things. There was a time that I’ve had to help Julie a few times where she would struggle through something and didn’t know how to deal with that. And so we would pray about it, and eventually we would have to go talk. And I have learned that those face-to-faces, as hard as they may be and challenging, and we would rather avoid them and not deal with that, then they change hearts. Like hearts are knitted together when we have those conversations. And it actually is more of just having that desire to we are in fellowship. We are brothers and sisters, and we ought to be treating each other like we actually value our fellowship together, rather than trying to avoid it or not deal with that.

So, and if you never practice it, you’re never gonna get better. I mean, I think when Jonathan said, there’s a, I don’t know which one it was, the bad way of doing it, like, well, yeah, if you’re not doing it, that’s bad, but I’d rather you come get in my face and do it wrong than to not come get in my face at all. Like, how is that gonna help me? And so, if we are fair in God, we won’t fair man. when we fear man we only lay a trap for them and ourselves and so we ought to have spines as Christians and be willing to do that hard work of cultivating those hard conversations when needed for the sake of our body growing up. Also examine and test your attitude and motives like if you’re doing something in a way that doesn’t honor the Lord and you should be able to tell don’t do that you know but if you come to see that wow like I actually been doing is for my own motives or my own personal interest, well, repent and don’t do that no more.

Learn to share your burdens with others. It’s so easy to talk over our hearts and avoid sharing what is going on in our hearts. When we learn to share our burdens, it gives us the opportunity to practice carrying those. And we get to learn what it means to lighten the burdens of those that weigh us down.

should be seeking to lighten one another’s burdens. You know, I mean it could be L2L, it doesn’t necessarily need to be that those are mixed company, but still there’s got to be some way that you can get to some level of actually having some burden that would benefit people hearing for the sake of you know praying, encouraging them, coming alongside of them. Like you know I’ve often said sometimes we share more prayers about those people outside of our hearts than what we’re dealing with with ourselves and you know like I do try to be an example of sharing what is going on in my life. I have more personal disablicive relationships where I do that but I mean you know even corporately trying to find a way of showing something that can encourage the body you know and you guys can at least pray or people know I mean there’s many times I’ve brought up some kind of prayer at L2L and have gotten and follow up calls or texts the following week.

And that’s very encouraging. Our body has both strong and weak believers. Each of us needs to grow more and more in the grace of Christ. Look for someone to help you grow. And I know that my life was never the same after I got a discipleship relationship. And, you know, there’s just an opportunity to grow and to have your heart knitted there and to be able to be an encouragement, you know, from someone that’s older and wiser. Worst case, you can try to get in their back pocket. There’s books you can read or watch people. We’re always being an example. And so sometimes you might see something that goes, oh, that’s interesting.

And you go and you try to encourage them. Look for friends who are willing to tell you the truth even when it would hurt. Faithful are the wounds of a friend. Profuse are the kisses of an enemy. We can’t be yes men with our relationships. We need to be willing to say the hard things when they need to be said. Like, you know, just because, you know, a pastor or an elder, like, or, you know, someone that you like says something, doesn’t necessarily mean that you need to agree with it. Like, don’t be afraid to share why you disagree or where you think it might need to be tweaked a little bit. But if you aren’t, you know, if you aren’t, you know, faithfully wounding your friends in a loving way, then you’re not being a good friend, so.

But the burden of fellowship is just the fact we are to be here, we are to first be spiritual, you know, to making sure that we are godly and growing, we need to be making sure that we’re looking for ways to carry one another’s burdens and, you know, and being an example because oftentimes when you share your burden you’d be surprised at how many people are like, oh, like I deal with that too and then you have a conversation or they talk about it so and lastly it’s just you know we need to make sure that we are being faithful with the small things that God has us doing and that we are doing it for His glory and not our own glory. I will pray. Father, thank you so much for this message. Thank you for just your word on how we can look for ways to be growing ourselves and but also be considering how we are carrying one another’s burdens and how this could be just a benefit to our body and so I pray that you would use this to strengthen us, to cause us to walk more uprightly with her with our own hearts and to walk uprightly as we

continue to encourage and stir our brothers and sisters up to holiness and so I pray that you would bless that in Jesus name amen. When Peter came to Jesus and asked him Lord how often will my brother sin against me and I forgive him. Jesus told the parable of the unforgiving servant. In that parable we hear about a man who was forgiven a mega debt, one that he would have never have been able to cover. He pleaded with his master who had pity on him and released him and forgave him his debt. The servant returns home only to find a fellow servant who owed him much less, a less significant debt. It was pennies compared to Benjamin’s. This fellow servant did the same exact thing as he did with his master begging for pity, but instead of showing pity and offering to forgive his servants that he treated him as he did not want to be treated. We must remember that we are here because of God’s grace to given to us through Jesus Christ. We are forgiven sinners at his table and we remember his death and resurrection for us. We are called to forgive our brothers from the

heart because of the forgiveness we have received from Jesus. There is now no condemnation for those in Christ, once his enemy now seated at his table. Jesus is the Good Shepherd who has laid down his life for us and it is in him that we have forgiveness of sins and this is worthy of celebrating. Beloved, my charge for you is this, consider your purpose at TEC and what it means for you to belong to our fellowship. Jesus Christ is coming back and what a glorious day that will be, but while we are waiting we must remember his commands for how we are to deal with one another and to carry one another’s burdens. Be like Paul who was hard-pressed between a choice of departing and being with the Lord and remaining in the flesh. He knew that Jesus was not done with him and so he was resolved to remain and continue with His people for their progress and joy in the faith.

We have a responsibility for one another and should take the same mindset regarding one another here in this local body. So be here for the progress and joy of one another. Take care, brothers. At least there being any of you an evil, unbelieving heart leading you to fall away from the living God. But exhort one another every day as long as it is called today that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. For we have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end. Amen.