Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted. 2 Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. 3 For if anyone thinks he is something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself. 4 But let each one test his own work, and then his reason to boast will be in himself alone and not in his neighbor. 5 For each will have to bear his own load.
6 Let the one who is taught the word share all good things with the one who teaches. 7 Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap. 8 For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. 9 And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up. 10 So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith.
~Galatians 6:1-10
Have you ever heard the phrase, “I don’t want to be a burden on anyone?”
We usually understand that to mean that our own personal problems involving self-care and life’s messes that we sometimes end up in. We intend that no one should ever have to help us go to the bathroom, feed us, take care of our bills, and do other personal business on our behalf.
“I don’t want to be a burden” is a slogan that our sinfully individualistic culture salutes nearly every time it is spoken no matter the context. But, what if we are supposed to be a burden on others? What if, in order to fulfill the vision the New Testament Church has for Christianity, just ordinary, garden-variety Christianity, we are, in fact, designed to be a community of burden-bearers? Kind of hard to be that kind of community while at the same time we live self-isolated lives, bearing our burdens, all of them, in private. Alone. Hidden in shame and sinful pride.
What is Paul up to here? In verse 2 we are explicitly instructed (read: commanded) to bear one another’s burdens. Then in verse 5, he declares that each person will have to bear his own load. Easy now! No, I’m not about to try and unravel personal responsibility. The second occurrence of what the ESV translates, load, is also a word associated with a soldier’s pack. A literal, physical burden. The contexts also change as Paul refers to burdon bearing in verse 2 to caring each his own load in verse 5. In verse 5 Paul is instructing us not to compare ourselves to one another as we make progress in spiritual maturity. We must each compare our personal, spiritual growth only with ourselves, where we have grown.
Yes, we do still have personal responsibility to deal with. But as Christians, we need to be careful that as we exercise personal responsibility, we don’t slip into sinful pride. You see, there is room for the Church to be more involved with one another’s lives when we have practical needs. We are a body of believers. Not a collection of radically independent parts. Contrary to how most of us may be tempted to think and act. We are meant to be there for one another even as we sort out how and what, is ours to deal with and where it makes sense to put our hands up and ask for help.
Ok, so even if we are willing to receive help in practical matters from time to time and not compare ourselves to others (verse 5), what is Paul talking about in verse 2?
Sin. Personal struggles, issues, hang-ups, addictions, bad habits, and other ways about us that make it, shall we say, challenging to be around sometimes. The new ground for most of us reading this will be that Paul actually expects Christians to be able to speak into and help one another with our sins, struggles, addictions, etc.
Our attitude toward one another’s rough edges is to see them with compassion. The same way God, through Christ, sees us. Next, we step up, name the issue we are seeing, and offer to help. Accountability, when it is couched in the Gospel, is a very freeing and beautiful thing in the Christian Community. The phrase, there but by the grace of God go I, is the mantra of such a community.
This is what Paul is driving at. A faith community that is there to take us to the doctor when we need it sure, but also to lovingly disclose where we see sin and brokenness in one another so that we all might grow to greater maturity and spiritual health together.
This takes a culture change. It takes raising the bar higher over what we expect and need from one another. It takes discipleship. We all need a season of intentional spiritual training so that we can acquire the skills needed to love one another as we need to be loved. To bear one another’s burdens. In this way, we elevate our standards so that when the unbelieving world sees us, they marvel at our love for one another.
“By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
~John 13:35
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