Bear Each Other's Burdens
Galatians 6 (Part 1/5)
Galatians 6:1-3
1 Dear brothers and sisters, if another believer is overcome by some sin, you who are godly should gently and humbly help that person back onto the right path. And be careful not to fall into the same temptation yourself. 2 Share each other’s burdens, and in this way obey the law of Christ. 3 If you think you are too important to help someone, you are only fooling yourself. You are not that important.
Over the next couple of weeks, we will focus on Galatians 6. We’ll walk through 5 principles from this chapter as we read through it, so let’s dive in with the first one.
Principle #1: Bear each other’s burdens
We will support each other and restore each other gently and humbly.
Galatians 6:1 — Dear brothers and sisters, if another believer is overcome by some sin, you who are godly should gently and humbly help that person back onto the right path. And be careful not to fall into the same temptation yourself.
Paul is speaking to brothers and sisters, meaning believers. He knows that we will not always walk in the Spirit. We will slip up sometimes. That doesn’t mean we’re not still a believer. It means we’re human, and if we still desire to abide in Christ, we will repent and turn back to God.
David Guzik: “Paul’s wording here speaks not of a determined and hardened sinner. Instead, the idea is of someone who has fallen into sin, finding themselves trapped in a place they never thought they would be.”
Paul tells the ones mature in the faith that they aren’t being hypocrites by pointing out sin in a brother and sister. Pastor Skip Heitzig says, “This verse answers the question: How does a spiritual person live under grace in his or her treatment of other people?”
Ultimately, the goal is restoration, done with gentleness and humility.
The Judaizers only condemned and pointed fingers—they didn’t restore. We can fall into this trap.
We can also fall into the trap of wanting to ignore someone’s sin, pretending like we didn’t see it in order to avoid confrontation. We might also stop calling what God calls sin sin. But it’s unloving not to tell the truth when we know that the wages of sin is death.
We need to avoid the two extremes — completely ignoring sin and beating people over their heads with their sin. We find the balance by still confronting sin but with gentleness and grace, with the goal of restoration.
Romans 2:4 — Don’t you see how wonderfully kind, tolerant, and patient God is with you? Does this mean nothing to you? Can’t you see that his kindness is intended to turn you from your sin?
God restores us with kindness, grace, and mercy, and we can learn from that.
Moving on, Paul says that we should be fully aware of our own fleshly weaknesses and bent toward corruption.
We all struggle with different things, so we’re not to judge the struggles of someone else in order to condemn—like our flesh wants us to. We are to help restore our brothers and sisters with kindness and gentleness, knowing that it could have been us caught up in sinful behavior.
We have to guard ourselves against not only the same temptation we’re restoring someone from, but also the pride of thinking we’d never fall into it like they did. That pride will lower our defenses and give room for the enemy to encourage us toward it.
Warren Wiersbe: “Nothing reveals the wickedness of legalism better than the way the legalists treat those who have sinned.”
Galatians 6:2 — Share each other’s burdens, and in this way obey the law of Christ.
David Guzik: “When Paul brought up the idea of the one overtaken in any trespass, it painted the picture of a person sagging under a heavy load. Here he expanded the idea to encourage every Christian to bear one another’s burdens.”
We shouldn’t expect others to bear our burdens. That self-focused thought process produces pride and frustration from unmet desires and expectations, and it can also lead to things like depression and anger.
Instead, God tells us to be focused on others and says, “Bear one another’s burdens.”
It’s not a difficult concept. We look for a brother or a sister with a burden and help them with it. Because it could help keep them from sin.
1 Peter 4:8 - Love covers a multitude of sins.
We’re not responsible for other people’s sin, but loving one another like we’re told will help heal and prevent it.
John Stott: “Notice the assumption which lies behind this command, namely that we all have burdens and that God does not mean us to carry them alone.”
This verse begs the question though: What is “the law of Christ”?
Galatians 5:14 - For the whole law can be summed up in this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”
Pastor Skip says, “Don’t be a burden; bear a burden.”
And don’t forget the Golden Rule (Matthew 7:12). If we want kindness and gentleness and mercy, that is what we should extend to others.
Galatians 6:3 — If you think you are too important to help someone, you are only fooling yourself. You are not that important.
Our flesh has a natural tendency to think we’re better than others or to elevate our problems above others. But that’s us deceiving ourselves.
This is a good call to be honest with ourselves.
David Guzik: As much as anything, pride is self-focus. Pride doesn’t necessarily say, “I’m better than you are.” Pride simply says, “I’m more important than you are, so I deserve more of my own attention and love than you do.” Instead, Biblical humility tells us, “I am no more important than you are. Let me care about your burdens and needs.”
Also, we shouldn’t be too stubborn about accepting help. It’s a biblical command to help others out, but we’re not letting someone else fulfill their calling if we never allow them to help us.
It’s pride to think we can do it all by ourselves and not receive help when we need it.
There are going to be times when we need to help, and there are going to be times when we need the help.
So it’s a call to be good stewards of the life God has given us so that we can help others when they are in need.
If you woke up this morning, it’s not too late.
Grace & peace,
Michelle Kampmeier