Bearing One Another's Burdens

Bearing One Another’s Burdens
Galatians 6:1-5
“1 Brethren, if a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness, considering yourself lest you also be tempted. 2 Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. 3 For if anyone thinks himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself. 4 But let each one examine his own work, and then he will have rejoicing in himself alone, and not in another. 5 For each shall bear his own load.”
Paul uses the word “Brethren” as to say brothers and sisters we are family and approach this matter as a family would. I look at some families and even note instances in my own, where we did not approach matters as a family out of love for one another. Paul wanted them to show those who have fallen away, or are caught up in sin, love and that love was to bring them back into a right relationship with God.
The use of the word overtaken indicates that one is caught unaware in his sin. Surprised by another, and his sin is brought to the attention of others no matter how hard he has tried to hide it. We can walk in sin thinking that no one knows what we are doing, but the Spirit of God is bringing conviction upon us as we walk in sin. God loves us so much and wants so much more for us that He will only allow us to walk in our sin for so long, ignoring the convictions of the Holy Spirit, before our sins will find us out.
When Paul stresses that those that are spiritual approach this matter, he wants those who continue to walk daily in the Spirit of God, to restore this person for two reasons. One is that he will use gentleness, guided by the Spirit of God, and the other is that the restorer will not fall into the same temptation as the sinner. I knew a man that felt he had a call own his live to reach certain people caught in a certain sin. His heart was in the right place, but unfortunately he too was caught up in the same sin. He has been restored to the family of God and serves God even today, though not as he once did.
The spiritual person will be prayed up to deal with the fallen, in order that he can be guided by the spirit of God and that he will be protected from temptation that comes upon us all.
Jesus said; “let he who is without sin, cast the first stone.” we stand before those caught up in sin and ready our rocks to cast them at them. Our rocks may not be literal, but the words and actions that we use hurt just as much. As we approach the sinner, in love, remember that there but for the grace of God go I. For bearing another’s burden, does not mean shunning them, or hurting them, nor does it mean fixing the problem for them. Hiding another’s sin by helping them to cover it up will do neither of you any good. I watched a show where a grandmother went to great lengths to cover up her grandson’s wrong doing, only to be caught up in it herself.
Bear another’s burden in love, for this is the command of Christ. Galatians 5:14 “For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
We are to approach the restoration of another with humility, not thinking ourselves better than the fallen. The last thing another needs is condemnation, for this will turn others from your witness and make your help useless and unwanted. Let us look at how Jesus approached the fallen, in John 8:1-11. When the Pharisees brought the woman caught in adultery to Jesus, He did not recognize her sin nor did He condemn her. He wanted others around her to realize that they too were sinners, and needed grace as this woman did. He showed the woman love, and let her know that grace was available to her, He then encouraged her to walk free of the sin. Only through love are we able to help another to come out of their sin. Brow beating and shaming them will only drive them from your help, and we must remember that the Holy Spirit of God has the same goal as us, and will be there to aid in restoration. We are to love the sinner while hating the sin; therefore the person becomes more important than the sin itself.
Verse four is all about giving account for yourself, and not judging your neighbor. I struggle with this myself, looking at what others do and holding that against them. The answer Paul gives to this problem is to examine your own life and compare it to the life of Jesus, realizing that we walk in grace, forgiven of our sin only by the grace of God, and are walking in the spirit, only by the help of the Holy Spirit. This humbles us as we compare our own imperfection to the perfection of Christ.
We all must answer for ourselves and not for our neighbors. Our conduct will be before the eternal judge, and dealt with according to His will. We can not justify our smaller sins by bringing down another with greater sin. I leave you with a passage from Luke 18 of the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector. Also He spoke this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and despised others. “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, ‘God, I thank You that I am not like other men- extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even this tax collector. I fast twice a week, I give tithes of all that I posses.’ And the tax collector, standing afar off, would not so much as raise his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me a sinner!’ I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”
I friend of mine gave me a quote; “Here’s the book, read it, live it, see you next week!”