Galatians 6:2

When I was young, growing up, I lived a lot of my days with my grandparents. Some of you know that. And it was a bit of an old soul. and spent a lot of time sitting on their back porch. And they lived in a corner lot where people were driving by all the time. And even on the back porch, you could see people driving past the house. And we would sit on the back porch and wave at people. And oftentimes, people would stop in. Every day, someone would stop in. And you almost sat on the back porch just waiting for someone to stop in. And I mean, that doesn't really happen these days. But sometimes it was sons or daughters. aunts, uncles, cousins, sometimes it was just someone that my grandma drove on the school bus. But we spent a lot of days just talking and I spent a lot of time in my childhood just hearing stories, stories from 60 years ago, 50 years ago, stories about this cousin and that cousin that I didn't know. So there was a lot of talking that went on on that back porch, and I soaked in a lot of wisdom in those days. And honestly, I also soaked in a lot of foolishness listening to those conversations too. I knew of zero Christians in my family and zero Christians amongst my neighbors in those days just sitting on that back porch.

But for all the talk that happened on the back porch, ironically, there was a piece of art in the kitchen that said,

talk is silver. Silence is gold.

Yeah, talk is silver, silence is gold. And that's a good saying, and it's hard to attribute that saying to any one tradition because it's such a common proverb. And in a lot of ways, it echoes the proverbs that we read in scripture, and that is that the words of a fool are often very numerous.

And then we fast forward to this past summer and I felt like, and many of you don't know this, some of you do know this, but I felt like my life had sunk into some burdensome malaise. I didn't know why. I didn't know where it was coming from. But I was just in one of those seasons where there was just this heaviness to my affect that I couldn't explain. And then to compound that, Shelby and I received some really tough news for us that I shared with a few of you within this congregation. And we felt like we were going through a season of suffering. And in some ways, that continues still to today. But in the midst of that season, I had resolved myself to live more silently, to talk less, to listen more. And I don't think that was a wrong thing to do, to allow myself to be humble, to be humble, to accept some suffering, Because talk is silver, silence is gold. But my malaise started to break or bust sometime in the fall, and I really traced that back to a time that we sat down with a blessed couple within this congregation, and Shelby and I just kind of shared our hearts and poured out our burdens to them. And that couple offered absolutely zero solutions. They gave us no advice. They did not tell us anything to do to fix it, but they merely sat there and listened. And for a moment, it felt like they suffered with us. And that was the right thing for them to do.

And so in that, we voiced our frustrations to God and we trusted him for a better way. But in this case, we turned a lot to the Lord in prayer. And in that season, I realized that actually, in that case, talk was gold, not silence.

And so in light of our verse tonight, I want us to think upon a couple things as we think upon

bear one another's burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ.

And we could think upon more, but here's two. And one is lay bare your burdens to both God and his people. And then the second thing is this, do the work of being a people who can bear the burdens of one another. So we'll think upon both of those.

Lay bare your burdens

Number one, lay bare your burdens to both God and his people.

So Paul exhorts the Galatian believers here to bear one another's burdens. And you know, when we first think of that, we can think, well, he's saying, share in the sufferings of one another, whatever that may be. And for one person, your burden could be in parenting. For another, it could be in your work. For another, it could be in your financial health or financial success. Your burden could be in your marriage. Your burden could be in your ailments. Perhaps some of you suffer from a burden, and I certainly suffered from this burden when I was young, was a burden of loneliness.

And so when we hear Paul make this exhortation, we certainly can see that there are a number of burdens that we can carry in this life. And I do certainly think that Paul can and does mean that here, but I think he really gives this exhortation fully know well that there's not a single burden that you would bear. There's not a single burden that you would suffer were it not for the fall of man, were it not for that corruption that entered into this world through Adam. and all of the necessary consequence that flowed from that.

And so, I do take this verse to mean that there are heavy things that we carry. And I think if you take this verse to mean that, I think you're right to do that. But it seems in the immediate context here as we read, especially chapter five, even more into chapter six, I think Paul's really referring here to sins or the struggle of sinfulness that heaps a burden within our life. And he wants the church to help one another bear the burden and struggle against sin.

And so we see in verse one that he says, if someone is caught in a transgression, so that's the immediate context here, restore them in gentleness. And he instructs those who are spiritual to restore them. And in chapter five, verse 13, he instructs the believers there that, hey, you received freedom when you received the salvation of God. And he reminds them that you receive freedom from striving for your righteousness through works of the law, which is good news, that you don't have to labor and toil and fight all the time by being perfectly obedient to the law, because Christ was perfectly obedient for you. But he also warns them, don't use that freedom. to transgress the law. Don't use that freedom as a way to heap burdens upon yourself in sinfulness. And when we read this verse, we think to ourselves, well, yeah, I certainly have some burdens.

And he exhorts the believers also in chapter five, don't succumb to the works of the flesh. And the reality is, is that every single person in here tonight struggles with works of the flesh. To one degree or another, whether severely or mildly, everyone here struggles with works of the flesh. And God only knows, by his own gracious means, why he allows you to struggle with works of the flesh. But he lists them out.

Sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness.

I've been an elder for three years now, and I can assure you, every single one of these works of the flesh have presented themselves amongst the body. as I have encountered people in the body.

So we can take any of these sinful struggles that are listed by Paul and we can file them, we can file ourselves under at least one of the above. I mean, I'm sure you can place yourself in one of them. So I believe the burdens in mind here are those burdens that our brothers and sisters carry with them that are the works of the flesh, sinfulness and the sufferings that attend them.

But I think if we're to live out this exhortation from 6-2, then we come back to the point which is lay bare your burdens to both God and his people. We pray prayers of confession from the pulpit on Sunday mornings because we want you to live a confessional life. And friends, you must live a confessional life. You must not live your life in silence. You must not allow Satan to be your master. You must not insist that you live within his house and under his burdensome reign and rule. And you do that. when you live your life in silence.

So lay bare your burdens to both God and his people. If anyone is caught in a transgression, you don't want to be that person, so rather lay your sinfulness bare to God, bare before God, and do not suffer in silence. This is what David did in Psalm 51. He laid his heart out before God as he was confronted about his sin of adultery. And he simultaneously expressed his trust in the Lord to redeem him. And that's a beautiful example for us to see within that Psalm.

And so I ask you, is there anyone in this body that knows about your struggles? And I dare say for some of you, you can say yes, but I dare say for some of you, you can say no. Because you have not confessed them, you have not shared them. You have not allowed someone else to help you bear those burdens. And I think prayerfully, God will use your burdens to accomplish his glorious means. And some of you have suffered under the same nagging sins for many, many years. And there's hope within the scriptures that, as Joel says, God can restore the years that the locust has eaten. And if you've committed ghastly mistakes or sins, I exhort you, go back to God. Go to him. And bear that burden by turning to Christ. Confess your sins to him. Ask him boldly to help you. And trust that he will accomplish that work.

Bear the burdens of one another

So lay bare your burdens before the Lord and others. And then point two. Do the work of being a people who can bear the burdens of one another. There are a lot of one another's within scripture. And when we read them, we see that Christ has done the deep work of rooting out every nook and cranny of your heart to see where the sinfulness lies. And he will root it out. And not only will he find it, but he will stamp it out in his power.

When I think about bearing one another's burdens, I also think about the inverse of this verse, which I think is Titus 3.3, where he says,

at one time, we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived, and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures. We lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another.

What kind of person would willingly and willfully step into the burdens of another person? What kind of person would do that? What kind of person would willingly step into the muck and mire of your sin and wade into that and venture into the burden and the chaos and the confusion that that creates to help you climb out of that? What kind of person would do that? Who has the emotional capacity for that? Who has the time for that? Only one redeemed by Christ.

Christ has changed us so much, and I see it displayed within this body so much, that we willingly step into the burdens of another to bear that for them. And that is evidence of the gospel work in your life. And we should praise the Lord for that. Because as Paul said, at one time, we hated one another. And that's the reality of even this congregation, that as I look out on Sunday morning and I see the different groupings of people chatting and talking to one another, I think, these guys, they would have no common ground whatsoever were it not for Christ. And yet there's a sweet fellowship there, created through the bonds of Christ.

And so God is doing this hard work to bring us together through his glorious gospel. But if we're to be a people who can bear one another's burdens, then we must do the work of being a person who can bear it. I don't remember which part of our membership covenant says this, but we make that promise to bear one another's burdens in gentleness, right? And so we must resolve ourselves to strive towards holiness. And we must resolve ourselves to openness and selflessness and gentleness.

And ironically, where he tells us to flee the works of the flesh and to trust in Christ, we have to strive to attain the works of the Spirit, the fruits of the Spirit, right? So whereas one is freed by the works of the law, we're encouraged to walk by the Spirit. as Paul says in 5.16, or to live by the Spirit, as he says in 5.25. And then we get to chapter six, and he says, you who are spiritual. So we're walking by the Spirit, we're living by the Spirit, and then he says to those people,

you who are spiritual, restore the one in sin in the spirit of gentleness, bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ

, and that is to love your neighbor as yourself.

So we hear that and we say, well, okay, I'm spiritual. I'm doing what I can to try to live by the spirit, if even imperfectly, but I'm not a counselor. I'm not wise as the world counts it. I'm not a Don Northup. who can hear anything and take in anything. I'm not a Tim Keller who can spin the best turn of phrases. So how is the Lord gonna use me here?

Take those people to prayer

I would like to make one suggestion in this, and it would be that rather than meeting people and their burdens, whether it's suffering that was caused by their sinfulness or whether it's just suffering or burdens in general, rather than saying useless things, Take those people to prayer. Bold, unabashed, unashamed, unrelenting prayer. Not just for the one who's struggling, but with the one who is struggling. Encourage the one with the burden to turn to their God, to confess their sins, to ask him boldly for strength to overcome, and then to trust in the work of Christ.

And I can tell you, as I thought about this exhortation, I thought many times Shelby and I have had worries or concerns or burdens, and Jen Scruggs has texted Shelby and said, praying. That's it, praying. And I have felt comforted. I have felt like she is seeking the one who knows all things, and it's gonna be okay.

And brothers and sisters, that is the comfort that you can offer to one another. That is how you can bear the burdens of one another. You're not here to solve their problems. You're not here to save them from their sins. You're here to point one another to Christ, to exhort them to trust Christ.

As elders at this church, we spend a lot of time praying for you. At first, when I first joined elders meetings, I was like, what are we doing spending all this time praying? We got stuff to do, don't we? And the farther I progressed, the more I've realized we have nothing better to do but to pray for you. And that is a blessed time to pray for you.

And this is why you should pray for them. Because when God is moved to act in your suffering, that is when things will change. And he is, brothers and sisters, the only one who can make a difference. He is the only one who can offer relief for your burdens. And so he is the only one that we need to seek out to make that difference, to make that change.

You're not resigning yourself to prayer after everything else has failed, but rather you are resolving yourself to prayer because you know that God is the one who has to move. And we know brothers and sisters that God has moved. He already accomplished your salvation on the cross. If you believe. And for everything he has already promised, it will come to fulfillment. So you can have confidence in your God to relieve your burdens, either here, now, or in eternity. But your help is on the way.

Are you desperate enough?

So in light of these two things, I just leave you with a couple points of application beyond prey. And first is a question. And that is, am I not desperate enough over my sin to lay it bare to God? Are you not desperate enough? Much like Nick said on Sunday,

you do not look forward to the promises because you do not love the king.

Are you desperate enough in your sinfulness yet to lay it bare before God? We are all desperate in our sinfulness, whether you realize it or not.

And then here's another thing. Perhaps you don't lay your burdens bare before God because you still believe something else will ease your board burden. But that goes back to what we just said. If God does not act, your situation does not change.

And then third, for those being exhorted to bear the burdens, reach out and bear the burdens of another. There's a lot of needs within Jefferson Park Baptist Church. We are not a perfect body, but we are a body being perfected by the sanctification of the Holy Spirit. And we will not be perfect until we are glorified. And so there are many people within this body that need your help to bear their burdens. And so ask yourself, am I one of those people helping to bear those burdens? And I would challenge you. If you can't think of one person, just one, just start there. One person that you're helping to bear their burdens. Seek someone out, but that's two way street, right? You're going to have to, we're also going to have to confess, right? We're going to going to have to be open to, um, to be a good example, to, to seek those burdens out. And there are some that are very good at that within the congregation. And then there are others that are not.

But I can assure you, the need is great within Jefferson Park. And there are some within this body who, they bear the burdens of too many. And this body needs your help to do that.

So just to end it,

bear the burdens of one another and so fulfill the law of Christ.

Let's pray. Father, we pray that you would help us to see the work of the Spirit in our lives, that we can appreciate that. And Father, we ask that we would have confidence to share our burdens with one another, and that as a body, that we would display the fruit of the Spirit of gentleness that as we learn of the various sufferings and struggles of our brothers and sisters, that we would be ones ready to take those brothers and sisters to the cross, not to gloat, not to finger wag, but rather to exhort one another to trust in Christ and his work. It's in your son's name we pray, amen.