As Christians, the way we are supposed to live our lives
can sometimes lead to tension and contradiction. What I mean is
this: we are supposed to live our lives in the world. After all,
we’re supposed to love others and we’re supposed to go and make disciples, and
the only way we can do that is to be a part of the world. And yet, as
Christians, we are not supposed to follow the ways of the world. We’re
supposed to keep our hearts and minds focused on God. To focus on the
concerns of God, rather than human concerns, as Jesus said to Peter in Mark
Chapter Eight.
That’s not always an easy thing to do. In fact, it
seems kind of contradictory, really. How can we be part of the world and
yet not be influenced by the world? How can we live in the world and yet
not let the things of the world affect how we live.
Our reading from Galatians for
today tells us something about that. And it does so with two seemingly
contradictory statements. Did you catch them? I don’t know that I
ever have until I was looking at this passage this week. In verse two,
Paul says, “Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the
law of Christ.” But then, in verse five, Paul says, “for each one should
carry their own load.”
Well, which is it? Are we supposed to carry each
other’s burdens? Or are we supposed to carry our own load?
I think the answer is: Both. As Christians, we
are supposed to carry our own load. We’re not supposed to expect other people
to do everything for us. Paul himself took pride in the fact that he had
a trade, that he was a tentmaker. That meant he could support himself and
did not have to rely on the Christians in the towns to which he traveled to
support him.
And
of course, Paul’s statement about carrying our own load was not limited to
finances. He makes some other statements in this passage that add up to
the same thing: each of us is responsible for who we are and what we
do. He says, “Each one should test their own actions. Then they can
take pride in themselves alone, without comparing themselves to someone
else.” He says, “If anyone thinks they are something when they are not, they
deceive themselves.” Paul is telling us that each of us is responsible
for our own actions and for our own faith. When need to be honest with
ourselves about who we are and what we are. Each of us is responsible for
our own load and how we carry it. And when we fail, we need to own up to
that. It’s no good to try to blame anyone but ourselves.
But, we are also supposed to be
there to help others. We are, as Paul says, supposed to carry each
other’s burdens. That truly does fulfill the law of Christ. And
Paul also says this, “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper
time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.”
And this is one of the things
that can make Christianity hard. We are responsible for carrying our own
load AND carrying each other’s burdens.
That can feel like a lot to
carry sometimes. It’s all very well for Paul to say, “let us not become
weary in doing good”, but there are times when we do. There are times
when just carrying our own load seems like more than we can manage, and yet
we’re supposed to help others carry their burdens, too. It seems like
that’s quite a bit to ask of us.
And that’s where we get back
to living in the world but not following the ways of the world. Because
there are times when the world will tell us the exact opposite. The world
will tell us, hey, don’t worry about carrying your load. Make someone
else do it. You’re not responsible for taking care of yourself.
Other people should be taking care of you. And the world will also tell
us, hey, you don’t need to help anyone else. If they cannot take care of
themselves, that’s their problem, not your problem. Let somebody else
take care of them. Let the government take care of them. It’s none
of your concern.
And you know, there are times
when what the world tells us starts to make sense. And that’s especially
true when what the world tells us is something we want to hear. There are
times we’d really like to not be responsible for ourselves. We’d like to be
able to just do whatever we want and let someone else take care of
things. And there are times when we’d like to just be able to focus on
ourselves and not have to deal with other people’s problems. It’s a
message that can be very appealing to us sometimes.
It can be tempting to give in
to the message of the world. That’s why Paul says, “watch yourselves, or
you also may be tempted.” It’s tempting, but it’s a dangerous
temptation. Look at verse eight: “Whoever sows to please their flesh,
from the flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to please the Spirit, from
the Spirit will reap eternal life.”
That’s the choice we
have. And of course, we know what we should do. I mean, if someone
came up to you and asked, “Would you rather have destruction or eternal life?”,
it’s pretty obvious what the right choice is. And it’s not that we don’t
want to make the right choice. It’s just that, well, the right choice can
be hard sometimes. Sometimes it feels like a heavy load, and we do get
tired. Whether that’s good or bad, right or wrong, it’s just the truth.
Jesus never promised that
being a Christian would be easy, of course. In fact, he often promised
the exact opposite. That’s why, after Paul tells us not to become weary
in doing good, he tells us this: “As we have opportunity, let us do good
to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.”
Did you catch that last
part? We should do good for everyone whenever we can, of course. But
Paul says we should especially do good to those who belong to the family of
believers. Why would Paul say that? I mean, we hear all the time
that we should be focused on outreach, on reaching those people who are not
part of a church and are not believers. And Paul does not contradict
that. But still, Paul goes out of his way to tell us to especially do
good to our fellow Christians. Why would Paul do that?
I think the reason Paul says
that is because Paul knows just how heavy that load can get. When you
think about it, Paul had a really unique perspective on just how heavy the load
can be. You remember, he started out as one of the leading persecutors of
Christians. He was one of the people making the load heavy. And
then, after he converted to Christianity, he became a target of the
persecution. He was one of the people carrying the load. And as one
of the leaders of this new movement of people called Christians, he had one of
the heaviest loads of anyone.
Because of that, Paul knew
that there’s only one way we, as Christians, can do what we’re supposed to
do. There’s only one way in which we, as Christians, can both carry our
own load and reach out to carry the burdens of others. And that’s if we
support each other. If we encourage each other. If we are there for
each other. If we love each other.
That’s why it’s so important
for us, as Christians, to be part of a church. Can someone love God and
believe in Jesus and not be part of a church? Of course they can.
But they’ll be missing something. They’ll be missing that support
system. They’ll be missing that help in carrying the load. They’ll
be missing that group of believers who can encourage each other and love each
other and be there for each other. They’ll be missing that group of
people who, in Paul’s words, do good to each other.
That’s not to say that in the
church we always do that perfectly. Of course we don’t. Churches
are not perfect. They’re made up of people who are not perfect and they
have pastors who are not perfect. But we try. In our flawed,
bumbling, imperfect way, we try. We fail more times than we’d like to
admit, but we try. We try to be there for each other, and support each
other, and encourage each other. We try to carry each other’s burdens, so
that no one’s load becomes heavier than they can carry.
As Christians, we live in the world. But, as
Christians, we are not supposed to follow the ways of the world. We are
to fulfill the laws of Christ. That means we need to carry our own load
AND carry each other’s burdens. It’s not easy. But if we will keep
trying, and if we keep helping each other, we can do this together. We
can fulfill the laws of Christ. And we can be the people God has called
us to be.
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