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Sunday Sermon
Lake Grove Presbyterian Church - All rights reserved
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Sunday Sermon |
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To download the text and/or audio file for this week's sermon, please go to the "Sermon Archive" page and follow the instructions you'll find there. For a study guide to prepare for next week's sermon, please click HERE “Availability: Bearing Burdens” Building Great Relationships, Part 3 Galatians 6:1-5 May 20, 2007 Pastor Libby Boatwright
In the past few weeks of our “Building Great Relationships” series, we’ve heard some wonderful sermons about sacrificial love, and how promise keeping creates a future, and binds us together in the midst of all that would pull us apart. This week we’ll hear about following through on those promises, by being available for the needs of others, bearing one another’s burdens. Perhaps you remember a story in the paper a few days ago. It was like any other day on Polo Beach in Maui. The sky was high and blue and glorious in scope. Families romped in the roaring surf, children skipped and giggled along the shore line, surfboards bobbled in the waves beyond the breaking surf. A small family had gathered on the shore the day before the wedding, enjoying the respite before the ceremony. But that day of joy never came. About 2 pm, screams emerged from the deep ocean and the groom, Kuon Phou, dived into the water joining a few others to rescue those gasping for air, caught in the undercurrent. In all, four were saved from the riptide, and Kuon Phou was not one of them. He had lost his life while rescuing members of his family and strangers. 1 Kuon Phou bore another’s burden and in turn lost his own life. We all bear burdens. Some are reasonably light and out in the open, like overwhelming schedules and overbooked households. And some of the heavier ones remain behind closed doors… the relationship that isn’t making it, the unknown mass on the x-ray, the slipping grades that are in the mail, the job severance that no one knows about. Yet. For a lot of us, we have to maintain face, to appear as if we have it all together, or we might have to let down our guard. But where do you go when reality dumps a huge truck load of pain on your doorstep? Who do you call at 3 in the morning when your kid isn’t home yet? Many decline to share because, after all, “no one would understand” or they don’t want to burden anyone with the news. But when they do, the key is our availability as believers to come alongside and walk with them, to shoulder some of their pain, and sometimes to offer gentle correction when they dip below the water line in temptation and unethical behavior. Paul knew this situation well. In his work with the Galatians, there were many who, caught up in the competition of saving souls, rejected anyone who refused to follow the doctrine of the Jews – and punishment and rejection were the result. And so in the 6th chapter of this letter, Paul offers some practical advice in building bridges with those relationships that were falling apart. Galatians 6:1-5: My friends, if anyone is detected in a transgression, you who have received the Spirit should restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness. Take care that you yourselves are not tempted. Bear one another’s burdens and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ. For if those who are nothing think they are something, they deceive themselves. All must test their own work; then that work, rather than their neighbor’s work, will become the cause for pride. For all must carry their own loads. (p. 191- NRSV). Troubles in Galatia Paul was having a rough time in Galatia. This new church, one that gratefully accepted the new life of sharing and taking care of one another, was beginning to know freedom in Christ. But there were those in the church who were jealous of Paul’s success and decided that these new Gentile converts were being led astray. That the “true way” to God was only by way of the Jewish faith. These Judaizers, as they were called, were convinced that to be a “true believer,” you were to become a Jew first through circumcision and accept the obligations of Jewish law, and then accept Christ. Their aim was to discredit Paul, as he was not operating out of the Jerusalem church and was declared an imposter, not an apostle. Paul was furious at these accusations, and spends a good part of the book creating what some would call the Magna Carta of the Christian faith 2- that Salvation was a matter of grace, not religious ritual. Paul is calling his believers to a positive kind of servitude based on and empowered by love and led by the spirit to live in ways that build up the Christian community, produce fruit, virtues which enhanced the whole; to live as Eugene Peterson says, “creatively” 3, flexibly, within the spirit that leads us to places where we are available to those who need us. And so in these verses Paul was both trying to correct the false doctrine of the Judaizers and to offer practical solutions to living in community. Setting Things Right First, Paul calls those who have received the spirit and who have detected sin in another, to” restore that person in a spirit of gentleness.” He was challenging the Spiritual leaders of the day to live up to their calling, to be identified as people shaped by the Spirit, who could love one another. And the key word here for restore, is kataritzo; 4 it’s the same word for the mending of fishing nets, or setting a bone. The leaders are called to restoration of the community, to set things right. And we aren’t to make a public display of the rebuke, but to correct in a way of loving your neighbor, one on one, with gentleness, 5 a fruit of the Spirit. The problem comes when we are tempted to fall into the same sin, or take on an attitude of pride and condescension, like the Judaizers. Instead we are to consider the words of Psalm 139, “Search me oh God and know my heart, test me and know my anxious thoughts, see if there is any offensive way in me.” We really can’t correct another if we haven’t asked God to look at our heart, our motivations. For when our heart is set in the right place, we can offer God’s wisdom, His words. Prepared in this way, we will be ready to “bear one another’s burdens, and in this way, fulfill the law of Christ.” The Greek word for burden is baros and it’s describes a heavy load, one that needs help. Eugene Peterson actually translates this to “stoop down and reach out to those who are oppressed” get out of the comfort zone, for you only deceive yourself if you believe you are better than the next person.” 6 Progressing from a state of dependence to one of interdependence 7 we fulfill the law of Christ. It’s the self sacrificial love that our Savior revealed in his death. If you assume responsibility for one another, becoming slaves for one another through love, you embody his words, loving your neighbor as yourself. But If you’re correcting or helping a person only to boost your ratings, if the litmus test is positive for pride, it’s time to redirect your thinking. Finally, Paul tells us we have to bear our own load. The word here is phortion, a military term for a man’s pack or a soldier’s kit 8 For on the last day, as we appear before God in heaven we will take off this personal pack, and humbly lay it before the King, a task of self examination and self correction. Therefore, we can never measure ourselves above other Christians; we are accountable, finally, to our God who knows and sees everything, all our problems, all the mistakes and in His grace, still loves us, supports us. So perhaps the challenge of this passage is availability. Having enough margin in our schedules to humbly walk alongside someone who needs encouragement and correction. Three things come to mind to carry this out: Availability to bear burdens, availability to correct, and availability to God. Availability to Bear Burdens Bearing someone’s burden takes time, and availability is a precious commodity. And I witness a lot of burden bearing here at Lake Grove. I see it when someone stands in a corner of the fellowship hall and talks with another who’s in a world of hurt, I see it when someone visits a homebound member who’s just been told about the upcoming surgery, in the eyes of a Sunday School teacher when a child is having a rough day. When my mom died a few months ago, this congregation bore my burden of sorrow. It was hard to lose a mom and a dad in the space of a year. Cards and kind words and random phone calls, delicious meals, informal chats over coffee, and just being there were all indicative of a church family that understood what it is to come alongside and live through loss. Oh, there were a few that told me their war stories about how they cried for months and how they knew exactly what I was going through, all kind intentions to “fix it.” But nothing compared to those who were a presence in the lonely weekends and the empty moments of holidays and family gatherings. You were the face of Christ to me when it mattered. You walked alongside and lifted my pain when I needed you and couldn’t admit it myself. That’s availability to someone who needed it. You lived it out for me. And then there are those who would, as the verse implies, carry the heavier load, “stoop down and reach those who are oppressed. “ As many know, I recently returned from a vision trip with Agros, an agency that establishes self-sustaining farming communities in Central America. People who live in desperate poverty are given a second chance. Agros, the sponsoring organization, bears the weight of purchasing the land, handling the negotiations and contracts, government regulatory agencies and red tape. The sponsoring church comes alongside the families and supports them with start up capital for seed and infrastructure and volunteers who sponsor families, and the local people bear one another up by working the land, building homes for each other and their families and dream of the day when their children will go to school and have a chapel to worship in; where crops will be plentiful and their debt completely paid off. Paul would see this as community; each member bearing a part of the whole need. And at the end of the day, the indigenous people are given a lift out of poverty into hope. Gloria, from the first Agros community called Nuevo Amanecer, says it so well, “We’ve been here for only a few weeks, but already our corn is sprouting and all of us toil daily making the adobe bricks that soon we’ll build our homes with. Only God could do this because we have nothing before, but now look at all we have.” 10 Nuevo Amanecer means “new dawn,” and indeed it is. Availability to Correct Perhaps the hardest part of this verse is the availability to correct. No one relishes having to go to another and say, “you’re in too deep.” But if we are available to bear another’s burden, we also need to be able to correct them gently. It’s the moment when someone falls below the line of acceptable behavior and we need to step in. Not because we want to judge them or feel we are superior in our moral code, but because we love them enough to be a warning before they fall. And most of the time they don’t want to be found. We have to go after them to tell them we love them enough to say they are already there, and need to get them to an AA meeting or a counselor or a doctor for a condition that needs help. How easy it would be to simply write them off as foolish and allow them to mess up their marriage and have the affair, or pop another pill, or go ahead with the creative bookkeeping, or cheat on that test at school, because after all, “no one will ever know. And you’re my friend, right? And my answer to that is, “Yes, but I love you enough to pull you aside and say that as your friend, your spouse, you need to apologize, you need help, you need to set things right.” But when we’re angry with them, we’re tempted to make them a public fool, or chastise them in a family celebration, so everyone will know we are the super Christian, the real judge of character and the church is out to get them. Paul warns us of that for he says, ‘all must test their own work, then that work, rather than their neighbors work, will become the cause for pride.” A true friend realizes that this person could be me, and hangs on to humility in the midst of correction. They walk alongside someone and go beyond the fair-weather affirmation. They walk in the storm, the mud, the dangerous places to protect those they love; disciplining, coaching, correcting, and finally celebrating in the small victories, giving God all the credit. International Justice Mission does this every day, interceding for those who are tempted to sell their children into brothels or slave labor to pay off a debt. They correct those who steal land from widows, assuming they have a right to property. They correct governments who, on a whim or for political gain, arrest and falsely accuse innocent people and throw them into prison. 11 In a word, they establish God’s justice in places where mercy is in short supply and where people are grasping for hope. Their leader, Gary Haugen, notes that “In many communities the most powerful way to heed the biblical injunction to bear each other’s burdens is to hear the stories of those who are burdened by the oppressive abuse of power (Galatians 6:2). With love and courage these Christian workers can communicate to their neighbors that stories of injustice are of urgent, passionate concern to God and therefore of compelling interest to God’s people.” 12 And it’s messy work, full of danger and potential harm. But the innocents matter to them. It is a call on their life to see that God intervenes and people are set free from bondage and fear. And when the correction is done, they gently restore that person, that community, to wholeness and offer new ways to love one another. But what if after all your work, that person won’t listen to correction? What if their heart is still hard with resentment and anger that you found them out, pointed out their transgression and the wall is up. Or maybe you need to check in with your own stuff, because you think you can go it alone. Then it’s time to take a break. Walk a way for a while, and be available to God. Availability to God Availability to God means we’re laying our personal pack before the ultimate burden bearer. And it isn’t about giving up, because God calls us to make time for Him. Jesus said, “Come unto me all you who are weak and carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and humble in heart and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.13 The yoke here is not a shackle, but a way for God to walk alongside us and pull together, and learn. And when we do, we become an apprentice of the wisdom of heaven. When we cry out to him, because we can’t bear the load anymore, when we’re weak from the stressors of life in the trenches, God can fortify us for the next level. He can help us to, “throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles and run with perseverance the race marked out before us” 14 so that in some future time we’ll be strong enough to walk alongside others. For God provided his Son, Jesus Christ as an atonement for all our sins, unburdening us for the rest of our lives to live in freedom and grace Gary Haugen in our quote from the front page says it so well, If we simply and courageously make ourselves available to Him, Jesus Christ Himself will “release the oppressed” and we will know the extraordinary joy of watch Him do it through us. Our call is to pay that grace forward to the next level, to bear one another’s burdens, and be available to those in need. For then, we will fulfill the law of Christ. Let’s pray.
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