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Saturday, February 4, 2023

Sharing the Load

The message given in the United Methodist churches of the Wheatland Parish on Sunday morning, February 5, 2023.  The Bible verses used are Galatians 6:1-16.

            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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