Abounding Grace

Pastor Ed Taylor: Are you a burden giver or a burden bearer? You and I are not to be burden givers, but rather to be burden bearers. That is God’s will for your life. That you are not to be a burden giver and just laying heavy trips and burdens on people all the time, but rather, God’s heart for us is to help be burden bearers. This is really the essence of the gospel. A heart of rescuing, a heart of helping.

Guest (Male): Whether it’s a single mom struggling to make ends meet or a widow that is battling grief or maybe a neighbor that just lost their job, there are people in need all around us. Maybe that someone in need is yourself. Today on Abounding Grace, we’ll see how God wants us to help each other. We’re to bear each other’s burdens. Turn with us to Galatians chapter 6 as we hand things over to Pastor Ed Taylor.

Pastor Ed Taylor: Open your Bibles, Galatians chapter 6 is where we are. We're going to pick up where we left off last time, Galatians chapter 6. We’re going to move forward a little bit in a few more verses, and I’ve entitled our Bible study, Helping Each Other Along the Way.

There are two sides to that title. Number one, God wants us to help each other along the way. Those of you that are spiritual, we've learned in verse 1 of chapter 6, those who are spiritual, God wants you to help those that are wrestling and those that are struggling. He wants you to look for them and seek them out. He wants us to have the heart that Jesus has, and that is to seek and to save the lost.

And on the other side, there are those among us that need a little help along the way. We need someone to come alongside and strengthen us or restore us or encourage us or pray for us. Notice in verse 1 of Galatians 6, it says, "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."

We're in that part of Galatians, this epistle. I want you to learn these Bible words. The word epistle is a Bible word, but all it means is letter. So I want you to know both words. Epistle equals letter. Paul took his pen in hand and he wrote a letter to the believers, to the churches in the region of Galatia.

And we have that letter today. It’s inspired by the Holy Spirit. So God is inspiring Paul to write down exactly what God wants communicated to the church then and to us as a church now. And this practical part of the letter, Paul is now turning a corner and giving some practical applications of what he taught us in the first five chapters.

In the first five chapters was a defense of the gospel of grace against the false teachers that brought legalism into the churches. Remember they were new believers, excited about the things of God, life change, family change, and then these false teachers came in and said, "Oh no, no, no. You’re not saved until you’re circumcised. And you’re not saved unless you keep the law."

And unfortunately, some believed that and it rocked the church and ruined many people’s lives. They were biting and devouring one another. They were hurting and harming one another and they were no longer the effective light of the gospel in their community. And we learn in the first part of this practical side that the most beneficial part of your life and mine is the love of God flowing through us.

That is the most beneficial thing that comes from your life and mine. It wasn’t too long ago where we spent a few years studying the book of Acts verse by verse. It was starting at the end of 2020, maybe mid-2020, we spent a few years studying the book of Acts.

And every week on the wall behind me, every week on the pulpit in front of me, over and over I repeated the theme that was a theme throughout the book of Acts. Week after week, month after month, year after year, what were we learning? We were learning that we’re to be the church, be the church.

We live in a world, in a culture, where the world is the world. They act like the world, talk like the world. The Bible says the world is filled with the spirit of Antichrist. The world is always going to be the world. But only the church can be the church. Only the church can reflect the character of Jesus.

Only the church can walk in the agape love of God. The world can be the world. Now, believers and unbelievers alike can be the world. Believers act like the world at times, they get into the flesh. Believers and unbelievers can be like the world, but only the church can be the church. And one of the benefits, one of the most beneficial things that you and I have to offer this world is to live out the agape love of God.

Now you ask the question, what does that look like? And we’ve learned so far, it says in chapter 5 that the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. These characteristics lived through your life in a darkened, resistant, Antichrist world, they make a big difference. It’s noticeable when you’re patient or when you’re acting with self-control where everyone’s waiting for you to blow up because that’s what they would do and you don’t.

Jot it down in 1 Corinthians chapter 13 in verse 4, we have a display of love. It’s not an exhaustive list, but listen to some of the characteristics of this love and you’ll see why it has such a great impact in our world. Paul writes to another church and he says, "Love suffers long and is kind. Love does not envy. Love does not parade itself, is not puffed up.

Love does not behave rudely, does not seek its own. Love is not provoked, thinks no evil, does not rejoice in iniquity but rejoices in the truth, bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things." Love is powerful. Love is what helps people see Jesus in a dark world.

In chapter 6 verse 1, we’ve spent a couple weeks looking at the heart of love and that is to have a heart for others. Specifically, to seek those that are broken, helping restore the lost, caring enough to see, caring enough to help, caring enough to step into someone’s life, to help God mend them, reconcile, to help repair broken lives.

To have the heart of the Father in receiving the prodigal daughter or the prodigal son come home, not prejudging them or wagging the finger at them but rather celebrating and throwing a party that what the enemy wanted to do and destroy, God has done in rescuing. And now we pick up more practical parts of restoring.

We get new insights on what the church is to look like both together and outside of these walls where we spend most of our lives. Verse 2 he says, "Bear one another’s burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ." Very important, if you’re a note taker, a very important principle. And it’s simply this: as a Christian, a follower of Christ, you and I are not to be burden givers but rather to be burden bearers.

That is God’s will for your life. That you are not to be a burden giver and just laying heavy trips and burdens on people all the time but rather God’s heart for us is to help be burden bearers. This is really the essence of the gospel. A heart of rescuing, a heart of helping.

Jesus put it this way, John chapter 13 verse 34, he said, "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another as I have loved you, that you also love one another." Then he says this epic statement, one that our ears should really pay attention to. He says this in verse 35, "By this, all will know that you are my disciples if you have love for one another."

By this. It’s singular. He says this is how the world is going to know that you follow me. This is how the world's going to know. There’s not going to be any question. It’s going to be completely obvious. This one thing is going to be how the world knows that you’re the church and that you’re distinct and that I’m in your life and that I’m leading you and helping you and I’ve changed your life and I’ve changed your family and I dwell in you and that I died on the cross and I rose again.

This is how the world’s going to know that you’re my followers: by your love for one another. I find it very interesting what he doesn’t say. I find it very interesting what "this" is not. He doesn’t say by your great Bible knowledge. No, some of you are a little frustrated because you don’t know so much of the Bible. You want to know more but you don’t know more yet.

Well, that’s not how the world’s going to know that you’re a disciple, just because you know the Bible, just because you have a lot of Bible knowledge. I find it interesting that he doesn’t say by this, everyone’s going to know you’re my disciples: you know how to really argue people and bury them with your strong Bible arguments. And you just win arguments all the time and just jumping on people and you can prove your point and you got all your theological eyes dotted and your t’s crossed. He doesn’t say that.

I find it interesting Jesus doesn’t say in our current 21st-century culture, he doesn’t say to us that by this all will know you’re my disciples: by your strong political opinions. The room got a little silent there. By your strong political opinions. That seems to be the popular one today. Your strong political opinions. You know, the world has political opinions too. They have all kinds of attitudes.

That doesn’t show that you’re a disciple. Your anger and frustration and jumping in on all kinds of wacky, wild ideas. No, that’s not how people are going to know you’re a disciple. By your growing social media platform or your jumping on and every argument on Facebook because you’re going to make the point. That’s just not a reflection that you’re a disciple.

I mean, you might have good answers and you might have strong opinions and you might even have a good point, but is it in love? Has the Holy Spirit told you to do that? Has he led you to. I mean, I could picture you at your keyboard, click-click-click. Oh no, that’s a typewriter. Click-click-click. You're like, I'm going to get it and I'm going to. Bam.

And then what does it do? What happens when you meet flesh with flesh? What do you get? More flesh. Jesus said that’s not what’s going to make the church distinct. That’s not what’s going to promote the gospel. He says this is how: by your love for one another. Your love for one another.

Paul says it in verse 2 that our love is lived out by bearing one another’s burdens. By helping one another along. That’s how love is lived out. A church that’s healthy and effective and safe is a church filled with the never-ending love of Jesus. The world can’t demonstrate God’s love. Only you can. Only you can.

You’re living it out. Only you as a born-again believer can say, "I love because Jesus loved me first." I’ve experienced it. We’re going to learn in our midweek study as we study 1st John, 2nd John, and 3rd John, and by the way, you know what the theme of 1st John is? Love. It’s all about love.

John is the disciple and the apostle of love. And he’s going to say in the very first chapter, these are things that we handled, we touched, we experienced Jesus. Only the born-again believer can share that testimony. I didn’t read about love in a book, I didn’t see it in a movie, I live it.

God is in me, the eternal love of God is in my life. One way in a church that can easily get distracted through legalism and all kinds of weird stuff going on in the world is to bear one another’s burdens and you’re going to fulfill the law of Christ. I find that interesting that he uses that phrase too, because the law of Christ, there’s been a lot of talk about law in the churches of Galatia.

The false teachers came in and said, "Oh no, no, no. You don’t need the grace of God’s not enough. You need the law. And what you really need is to get circumcised and then keep the law the rest of your life and then maybe, just maybe, you’ll be saved." And he says no, no, no. You want to fulfill the law of Christ? Love one another.

That’s what, when they asked Jesus, what are the great commandments? What did he say? Love the Lord God with all your heart, soul, and mind and love your neighbor as yourself. There is a temptation to label people. Anything other than neighbor. Because then it makes it easier not to love them. Not to care about them.

Well, they’re not our neighbor, they’re and then you fill in the blank. There's some popular ones that are going around that certain segments of society, they get labeled. And in the mind of the world and perhaps a few believers listening to me, you just think you don’t have to love the label.

But Jesus already labeled people: they’re our neighbor. Who are our neighbor? Everyone. You and I have been created in the image of God and Jesus has come to seek and to save the lost. Both unbelievers. By the way, whenever we talk about unbelievers, I know it’s a generic term, but you can add names to that, can’t you?

You have a friend, coworker, a mom, a dad. We’re not just talking about generic people. These are people you love and care for. These are part of our family. These are people we do life with. Jesus came to seek and to save the lost, the unbeliever, but also the believer, the ones that wander away, the prodigal sons and daughters.

Oh which, by the way, have names. Some of them worshiped in this church for years but right now they’re not walking with the Lord. You see, love remembers the person. So many believers get distracted and find themselves focused on the wrong things. Fighting the wrong war with the wrong weapons and then wondering why their lives, why the relationships are fractured.

Why they’re so frustrated and angry all the time, why they feel so distant from God. Could it be that you have fought the wrong war with the wrong weapons and that you are distracted? Living lives that are not spiritual but carnal, fleshly. We’ve already learned that flesh bad, spirit good.

That’s the simple kindergarten version. Flesh bad, spirit good. And that God’s heart for us is not to be carnal, fleshly men and women but to be spiritual. This is a Bible word, by the way. You can jot it down in 1st Corinthians chapter 3 as Paul’s talking to another church, he says this, "And I, brethren, could not speak to you as spiritual people but as carnal, as to babes in Christ."

Listen, when you’re in the flesh, you’re acting like a baby. That’s what he’s saying here. Can you imagine getting a letter like we all came together and said I had a Bible study prepared for you, but Apostle Paul sent us a letter. So I’m going to set my Bible study aside and I’m going to read the letter to you.

And as I open up the scroll and I start reading it, the very first thing says, "You bunch of babies." And you're like, whoa. Is he calling me a baby? Usually if you have to ask yourself that, that’s you. And he says look, you’re acting like children.

You’re not acting like the mature men and women that you are in Christ. You’re not walking in the spirit. You’re in the flesh. Some have gotten so good at excusing their flesh that they think they’re in the spirit. But the Bible says you’re acting like a baby and you need to grow up.

Paul said the same thing in Hebrews. He says in a different angle, "You know, by now I should be able to talk to you guys like adults, but I got to go over the ABCs with you again. I got to take you back to simplicity." And grateful God will do that in our lives. But it doesn’t have to be.

It ought, as James would say, it ought not to be so. God’s purpose and will for your life is that you mature and grow up and get beyond these things. Come back to love, come back to grace, come back to looking not only for yourself but look for others. The devil’s tried to divide you and disrupt you and distract you and destroy you, but today you can return and we pray that you will.

The Bible says to bear one another’s burdens so you’ll fulfill the law of Christ. Which leads us to a question in the room today and that is: are there people in your church, and we’re talking about our little church here, but by extension if you’re listening on the radio right now or watching online, it could be the church you’re a part of, but our church here, is there a need?

Are there people in your church that need help? That’s just a very important question to ask. And some might say, "Well, yeah, Pastor. There’s some people that are in need. I met them this week and I sent them to the church." You did what? You sent them to the church? You are the church.

So here’s what happened: God saw people with need and he sent them to the church, you. And instead of taking care of them and instead of serving them and instead of bearing their burden with them, you gave them a phone number and sent them to the church, to the organization church or to the leaders that are here, when all the while, you and I are the church.

And still others might say, "Yeah, I know there’s a lot of needs here and that’s why you’re here, Pastor. You’re here. I’m going to send them to you. Anytime I find a need, I’m going to say that’s what Pastor Ed’s here for. That’s his job." Oh, now you’re going to give me my job description. Thank you very much. Appreciate that.

But you know when there is needs in the church, I know about needs in the church. I don’t know about all of them, but I know about some of them. But I know of needs and I meet needs not as a pastor but as a brother. I’m a brother in the Lord before I’m ever a pastor. I relate to God as a brother, as a son, not as a pastor.

I don’t get caught up in the titles and positions that God has put me in or allowed me to be a part of. That’s not how he sees me first and foremost. God sees me as a son. I’m adopted into his family. So that when I respond to a need, I respond as a brother, a brother in the Lord.

Certainly, we as a church family will help those in need. But the Bible says that you’re to help those in need. That’s what it says in verse 2 here. Bear one another’s burdens. The Bible doesn’t say to go looking and finding all the burdens and get someone else to help bear the burden.

The Bible says that you and I are to bear one another’s burdens. To come alongside and help each other. To serve one another. To build one another up. Those that are physically hurting, those that are emotionally hurting, those that are struggling financially, those that are wrestling with life, that we as brothers and sisters of the Lord are going to help one another.

That’s what it says. We’re not going to send them away, we’re going to help them. And you are the church. And so before you ever give a phone number and before you ever give them off to someone, you have to ask the Lord, "Why did you send them to me? Why are they in my life?" And I can already answer that for you. I know the answer God will give you. I’ve sent them to you because you can help. You’re the church.

Guest (Male): Hey, thanks for listening to Abounding Grace. We just listened in to part 1 of Helping Each Other Along the Way and we’ll hear the rest of Pastor Ed Taylor’s message next time. Remember, you can access these studies in Galatians at aboundinggraceradio.com or wherever you get your podcasts.

Pastor Ed, today we are encouraged to bear each other’s burdens. As you know, we sometimes encounter people asking for help on the side of the road or they come to the church asking for help, but some of our listeners might be wondering, what is the best way to help them? Is it always wise to hand them a few bucks? Some might think, well, I don’t want to help to enable some sinful addiction or choice. Would you address that concern as we close?

Pastor Ed Taylor: Well, you know, Larry, the question is much bigger than the end of a radio broadcast. There are so many facets to it, so many areas to nuance, but I think if you’re ready, if you make yourself ready and available to the Lord, he will lead you on how to be a help. And there’s a variety of different ways.

Sometimes it’s sitting with someone, listening to their story like Job’s friends. The most effective part of Job’s friends and their friendship to him is when they sat with him for seven days and didn’t say a word. It was when they opened their mouth and began to give their opinion that they really hurt Job.

And so just being there, not giving our opinions but just encouraging someone in the Lord, going out for coffee, getting some ice cream together, of course there’s practical needs as well. You just need to pray. I really do believe and I have watched the Lord answer this prayer of what do you want me to do, Lord?

How do you want. Is it sending the text, is it making the phone call, is it waiting, when should I be praying? But just making yourself available to the Lord and making yourself available to the person, the Spirit of God will help you. And if you need more direction, you can email me. Send me the specifics. Maybe I can point you in another direction, maybe I can’t, but I know I can pray for you and stand in the gap alongside of you.

Guest (Male): Well said. Thanks again, Ed. Today we’d like to tell you about The Jesus Person Promise Book, authored by David Wilkerson. With well over a million copies in print, this book is a wonderful tool for everyday use. It brings the truth of God’s word into virtually every spiritual and personal problem encountered today.

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Please remember this ministry is made possible through the support of our listeners, and we’re grateful for whatever the Lord leads you to do. It would be great to hear from you during these summer months. Call toll-free, 877-30-GRACE. Donations can also be made online at aboundinggraceradio.com.

Glad you’ve taken time out for our study in Galatians. This has been Abounding Grace with Pastor Ed and we’ll look for you tomorrow as we open the word together in search of God’s abounding grace. Abounding Grace is brought to you by Calvary Church Colorado here in Aurora.