Sermon Tone Analysis

I need a teen to come up and help and feel pick up the chair.

is it heavy or light?

(Have them hold chair straight out immediately then explain directions below)

So hold the chair out with straight arms (okay) (and you can’t talk during this either) and we are going to see how long you can do this for.

So if you can do it the whole service you can just stay here the entire time

and if you can hold off until after the service then maybe we will stay here and watch.

Hows it feeling?

its probably feeling a little heavier now doesn’t it?

because even if there is something that feels light at first, if we have to carry it around for a long or even a short period, it starts to feel a lot heavier.

and it keeps getting heavier and weighing more until we can’t carry it at all and give in to the weight that we are carrying.

But you know this is true in our life as well because in life we all carry different weights around that are often not visible.

and what these weights are, are all over the board, because some of these weights are from trials that we face.

You know these are issues that have come up, something financial, or the loss of someone for some it may be from a mental health issues (anxiety and depression are very real)

But then there are also weights that we have to carry because of things we have done.

These are things that

These are ways we have messed up or sinned.

and some of us we have some sort of sin in our life that we haven’t been able to shake

and we have been trying to grow closer to God but this sin in our life has just been holding us back.

But whatever burden we are facing these burdens start to weigh us down where it really may not even be that heavy at first, but eventually this weight becomes something that we cannot deal with alone.

and we begin to ask questions like how can I go on?

how can I keep living like this when I am holding a weight that is this heavy?

And today we are going to be diving into these questions.

because every single one of us has these burdens, from mistakes we have made or situations that have come up in our life, and there are different ways to deal with these situations

but today in the passage of scripture we will be in the author tells us this is how we are going to handle the burden you are dealing with.

So we are going to be in and this is the last week of our sermon series which is called “No Other Gospel”

and if you have been with us the past few weeks we have been talking about how their is no other Gospel that can change your life like that of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

and the person who wrote this Paul has told us theologically what this looks like but last week Paul started showing what this looks likes practically in our individual lives and today He shows us what it looks like in the body of Christ.

So turn with me to because this is where we will be today.

It says:

So if you look at this passage Paul first hits on the burdens that hold us down spiritually.

(and keep in mind this is written at the church)

but these are the sins, mistakes and temptations that we succumb too.

and Paul knows that these sins and mistakes cause damage to the individuals life but also the life of the church.

But he doesn’t just say cut this person out of the church and get rid of them, but he says come along side that person and restore them to who God is calling them to be.

You know I have this habit where I love to go to thrift stores and find old beat up furniture

and then in my head I look at it and think how I could completely transform this piece of furniture into something amazing like on some of those TV shows on HGTV.

but the issue that I have is I have no idea what I am doing

Don’t just attack them for messing up or

and my wife doesn’t have enough confidence in me either so I actually never get to carry it out.

But you know I think God sees us like that to some extent.

He looks at this person who is just beat up by there past mistakes, and He sees how He can transform them to something beautiful.

And what is so cool is in this passage God is asking if we will be a part of it.

Because there are people (maybe even some of us in this room) that believe that we are just beat up and burdened from the sins of our past.

But God is saying I want to restore you to who I have called you to be.

and He wants to do that through the body of Christ, and really through us.

You know that is why God tells us to be involved with other Christians and to live life together because when we stumble into sin.

so the bone

There is someone walking with us who will hold us up and restore us to who God is calling us to be.

There is a Christlike friend who will be there when we in the middle of our mess to work with us to become the people who God is calling us to be.

And just to drive this home

So Paul tells us what to do when we face spiritual burdens (temptations and sins), but now he tells us what to do when we face burdens that are brought on through trials and really the situations we are in.

and what he says is bear one another burdens.

and he says to do this by fulfilling the law of Christ.

is to love others how Christ loved us.

and how did Christ love us?

He died for our sins and bore our burdens out of the unconditional love he has for us and whats amazing is we are called to show this unconditional love to others

And what this passage is saying is I want you to do this through bearing each others burdens.

So when someone is having a rough day we are their for them

When someone is having a legitimate financial issue and God lays it on our heart to help, we help

When someone has whatever burden, we do what we can to help bear that burden, because thats what Christ did for us.

You know I think most of us have been on an airplane before.

And even if you haven’t you have probably seen the two big engines on the bottom of the wings.

But did you know hypothetically if one of the those engines went out mid air the airplane could still fly and even land or take off without both engines

and even if both of the engines went out the plane can actually glide for 20 minutes without the engine.

But whats so neat is that even if one of these three systems fail, the plane can still function to some extent.

Because one of the engines is going to make up for the other failing until the plane can land on the ground and get fixed

And I think thats a good image of what we are called to do as a church.

When we have a burden so heavy that we can’t move because we are so overwhelmed by whats happening

We can lean on the body of Christ to be His hands and feet and help us when we just feel so beat up that we can’t move.

And look at the last couple verses because Paul tells us these two things about different burdens that we face whether it be spiritual burdens or burdens that are brought on by our situations.

But Paul finishes by telling us to carry our own load

which sounds like a contradiction right?

But this load that he is talking about is different then a burden, where if you dig into the way everything is worded in this passage it shows that this load the passage is talking about is the load that God has given us.

and this is different then the burdens, because these burdens in the beginning are things that crush you and you cant carry it alone (its almost impossible)

But the load that God gives us is meant to be carried, it is still heavy, and can be work to carry, but its meant to move.

Because God give us this load where he ask us to do certain things in our life and equips us to do it with certain gifts and talents.

and that is why it says test your actions.

in other words look at your life are you using the gifts I have given you to restore and bear the burdens of others lives.

When there is someone who has messed up and you are in a position to help them get back in line with God’s will are we doing it?

If I have

When someone is having a health issue are we there to help bear that burden

When their is a financial burden and God has gifted us with our finances are we helping someone who is in need with our resources we have.

Because we should be able to look at our life and see am I using the load God has given me.

Really am I using the talents and call that God has given me to carry out His mission that he has placed on my life.

and maybe today you are the person who has the burden, whether its something spiritual, where you keep stumbling in your sin or whether it is a trial you are going through.

I know that there are burdens in this room,

and I don’t know every single one of them, but we can come and if those burdens to Christ first off,

but then God has given us the body of Christ so when we are beat down on the ground we can bear each others burdens.

God given you these people around you for what you are going through today.

and I wanted to end today by doing something crazy (by doing what the Bible actually tells us to do).

Because as I mentioned earlier Joann’s son passed away this week in a tragic way, but and I can’t imagine the burden that her family has been feeling

and I want us to first off help bear their burden in prayer and being here for them.

But I want to take a special offering to go to help the burden of funeral cost that they will face.

Because funerals are expensive and I want us to help bear that burden so I am going invite those who helped with offering to come back up

and we are going to end today by taking a special offering for Joann and her family, and I know you might not have something right now, but I want to do our best to help with this situation they are going through.

and really during this last song I want us to help bear this burden.

Will you pray with me?