Sermon Tone Analysis

FAMILY LIFE

(Verses 1-5)

Treating each other as God would expect

Bearing our burdens

God’s desire is not for us to carry our own burdens

It seems brave and like we are in control but it is not Christian and it is not humble.

To think we can carry burdens ourselves is to think we can handle it ourselves and don’t need others- pride

To handle things ourselves is not what God intended

There is one burden that we could never carry for ourselves or others.

Jesus Christ alone can bear the burden of our sin and guilt; He bore them with His own body when he died on the cross.

Christ also bears our burdens of worry, temptation, doubts and sorrows through human friendships.

Example: Paul’s letter to the Corinthians.

He was worried about the church there and how they would receive his letter.

2 Corinthians 7:5, 6

God’s comfort was not given to Paul through prayer or waiting on the Lord but through a friendship and through the good news he brought with him of the Corinthian church.

When we carry each other’s burdens in our friendships we are living out the purpose of God’s people.

SO we shouldn’t keep them to ourselves but seek a Christian friend who will help bear them with us.

GUILTY: MY STORY OF EMAIL LAST WEEK TO BOARD

To be a burden-bearer is a great ministry.

It is something that every Christian should and can do.

It is a natural consequence of walking by the Spirit.

It fulfils the law of Christ.

‘Therefore’, wrote Martin Luther, ‘Christians must have strong shoulders and mighty bones’—sturdy enough, that is, to carry heavy burdens.

KINGDOM LIFE

(VERSE 2)

The result of carrying and sharing burdens is that we ‘fulfill the law of Christ’ (Verse 2)

Paul’s language is directed to the Judiazers.

(Those Jews who were only following the law and pushing it on others at that time.)

He was hoping those Judiazers would see that some of the laws requirements were a burden to them.

When we make God’s Word legalistic we can have the same tenancies as them.

We burden ourselves and others by expecting them to follow rules that we can’t keep.

Paul is simply saying to them (and to us), stop imposing the law as a burden to others and fulfill the law of Christ.

What is the law of Christ?

It is John 13:34; 15:12

It is what Paul said in Galatians 5:14

This is all about fulfilling the commands of the Lord.

Love the Lord God with all our heart, mind, soul and strength

We love God with our thoughts, words, and actions.

Love our neighbor- love one another

We love our neighbor with our word and action.

Why did I not say “we love our neighbor with our thoughts”?

Because only God knows our thoughts and sometimes it’s better we don’t say or act out our thoughts to our neighbor!

RESTORING A BROTHER OR SISTER

VERSE 1

What to do?

If a man is overtaken in any trespass (sin), restore him.

“Restore” (Kat-ar-tizo) = Put in order or restore to its former condition.

Mark 1:19

‘mending’ their nets is the same use in this verse as Verse 1 in Galatians 6:1 “restore him”

Order of restoring:

Go to the brother or sister and tell them their fault- face to face, and privately.

Jesus calls us to make our objective positive and constructive.

Seek to ‘restore’ them, as Paul writes.

2. Who is to do it?

A mature or spiritual Christian

Steve preached on this last week in Galatians 5:16-25

One that is not perfect but walks in the Spirit and displays the fruits of the Spirit

The requirement is that the one to restore or help restore a brother or sister is one that is ‘walking in the Spirit’

This does not give an out to the person who finds them self ‘less spiritual’- that person and especially the one involved would go with the spiritually mature individual to the person in sin

3. How should it be done?

Galatians 6:1

“You who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness.

Look to yourself, lest you too be tempted.”

This is the same word (gentleness) used in the fruit of the Spirit.

Spiritual people approach restoration in a gentle spirit.

They know they have been shown much grace and forgiveness by the Lord.

Spiritual people approach restoration in a humble spirit.

They know they are prone to sin and have been forgiven much by the Lord.

Yet if we walked by the Spirit we would love one another more, and if we loved one another more we would bear one another’s burdens, and if we bore one another’s burdens we would not shrink from seeking to restore a brother who has fallen into sin.

Further, if we obeyed this apostolic instruction as we should, much unkind gossip would be avoided, more serious backsliding prevented, the good of the church advanced, and the name of Christ glorified.

Here are three truths to remember as we close.

1.

We easily remember that we’re sons and daughters of God, but too often forget that we’re all brothers and sisters- yet our kids learn the opposite from our word and action.

2. When we focus on ourselves, we can’t see the people around us that God has put in our lives, for a purpose.

3. God put us here for a purpose and that is to fulfill the law of Christ and obey His teachings, not just follow the ones we want to.