7/15/07 - Pentecost 7 - Gal. 6:1-10

ESPECIALLY TO THE FAMILY OF BELIEVERS
- Do not become weary in doing good
- Carry each other's burdens

In the Old Testament when a man named Lot was taken away by invading kings, his uncle Abraham gathered his men, went after the armies, and rescued his nephew Lot. Why did Abraham put himself and all he had in that kind of danger? Because Lot was family. When Benjamin, the youngest of Jacob’s twelve sons, was accused of stealing a silver cup from Egypt, his brother Judah stepped up and offered to take his place as a slave. Why would Judah give up his freedom as an innocent man? Because brothers are family. When Naomi went back to Israel after her sons and husband died, Ruth was determined to leave her own people and go along with her mother-in-law to a place she had never been to and to a nation she had never met. Why would she do that? Because Naomi was the only family Ruth had left. You know not only from biblical examples but from your own lives that there is no stronger bond than family. When you are related, when you are connected by blood, there is a union there that is not easily broken. You do things for family that you normally wouldn’t do for others. You say things to family that you normally wouldn’t say to others. The love you have for your family is stronger than the love you have for anyone else.
Take a look around you. But look past the family members sitting next to you and look at the family members sitting across the aisle and in front and behind you. This is the family the Lord brings to the forefront of our sermon text today. It is more than a simple blood connection between relatives, this bond is founded on the blood of Christ. And through faith in that blood we are all members of the family of believers.
Allow me to reread a few verses from our 2nd lesson today, Galatians 6. Listen for the two things the Lord encourages us to do for all those who are members of this spiritual and inseparable family. “Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ... Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.”
“Especially to those who belong to the family of believers.” We are to bear everyone’s burdens. We are to do good to all people, friends and enemies alike. But especially, to an even greater extant, to those who are Christians. Paul makes a specific point of this because we’re family! We are connected with the eternal bond of Christ’s blood! This family is more important than your earthly relatives. Those who share this common faith in Christ with you are to be more important than any relationship you have on this earth. Jesus demonstrated this during his life. One day when Jesus was teaching inside a house he was told that his mother and brothers were outside waiting for him. He turned to the crowd and said, “My mother and brothers are those who hear God’s word and put in into practice” (Luke 8:21). Those who believe in Jesus are of his family and are of one family. And so faith in Christ obligates you to treat all those who share that same faith like they are the most precious family members you’ve ever had.
And that’s how Paul is talking to us today: as Christians who are living our lives with other Christians under God’s grace. “Do not become weary in doing good.” Paul tells us not to become weary because it’s easy to do, isn’t it? It’s easy to become tired of doing good for your family members because it’s hard work! It’s hard work to treat your family well all the time. And that’s exactly what Paul says here. When he writes, “Do good to all people… especially to the family of believers,” to do good isn’t just performing the act. The word actually means to work at it. Doing good to the family of believers is something we all must constantly work at doing because it’s so easy to just let it slide.
These past few weeks I’ve spent a lot of time with my earthly family. Parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles, Jessica and the kids, my brothers and everyone else in between. And while I was spending time with them and pondering this portion of Scripture, I noticed how easy it was to become tired of doing good for them. Because it’s easy to take your family for granted. You are comfortable with them and they are comfortable with you. You don’t need to impress them. You don’t need to prove anything to them. And so you end up not doing anything at all. That happens within our congregation, doesn’t it? We are all so familiar with our brothers and sisters in Christ that we become weary in doing good.
For example, if a visitor walks in you’ll make sure they have a hymnal and a bulletin if they sit in the blue seats. But for one of our own members - “they know where the hymnals and the bulletins are and they should have grabbed one before they sat down anyway…” You’ll compliment a visitor and make that extra effort to be nice to them, but the kindness and gentleness of your words doesn’t even cross your mind with your congregational family members, does it? You will say whatever is on your mind despite their feelings or needs. We don’t often go out of our way to help those here we know well, we stop trying to make our own spiritual brothers and sisters happy, and we start to forget their wants and needs and desires. Why is it that those we are to love the most, we treat the worst?
And please don’t diminish the seriousness of this attitude. We tend to minimize our sins in general and this is just another example of that. I’m sure many of you are thinking, “Yeah, I probably don’t treat my brothers and sisters in Christ the way I should, but oh well, I guess we’re all sinners. They don’t treat me all that great either” These sins are serious. These are your real brothers and sisters. These are God’s real children. You would never make fun of children in front of their parents’ faces, would you? Of course not! Children are the pride of joy of their parents. Parents love their children and don’t want anyone to speak ill of them or treat them wrongly. And so why would you think treating God’s children in that way isn’t a big deal? The Lord doesn’t appreciate that we grow weary of doing good for his children. He isn’t pleased when his children are taken for granted. He hates the fact that his own children are being treated that way by one of his own! The Lord will not put up with that! He will not tolerate his own family members being treated in that way. And so it is to our shame when we fail to treat our brothers and sisters for the children of God they are and somehow grow weary of doing good to good to them.
During my childhood there were days when my brothers and I were not on the best of terms. We would argue, we would bicker, we would get in fights, sometimes punches were even thrown. We were normal brothers. But over the last few weeks as my brothers and I got together again, the punches of our early years were not remembered. We didn’t hold the hateful words against each other said long ago. The sinful attitudes and actions of past scuffles and confrontations were never brought up. Why? Because we’re family. And the love we have as members of the same family have covered over all the sins of the past.
How much more this is true with our perfect Brother in heaven. “It was fitting that God, for whom and through whom everything exists, should make the author of [our] salvation perfect though suffering. Both the one who makes men holy and those who are made holy are of the same family. So Jesus is not ashamed to call [us] brothers” (Heb. 2:10-11). Jesus is proud, he is honored to call us brothers and sisters. And so he loved us with a love that we cannot fathom. He gave up his glory for us. He suffered some of the most awful torments that this life can deal out for us. He experienced our punishment in hell for us. He bore the weight and the responsibility and the consequence of our sins for us. That is love: a completely unselfish action for those who can’t possibly deserve it or pay it back. That is love. That is our forgiveness. That is what our Brother has done because we’re family.
Knowing this and being motivated by this gospel truth, listen to the words of the apostle John, “This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers” (1 John 3:16). John says that we ought to love our family members to the same degree that Christ loved us. We can do that in a variety of ways, one of which Paul specifically encourages us to do in our text. “Carry each other’s burdens and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.” That’s what family members do. They carry each other’s burdens. And that’s fine and dandy and a great principle to follow, but if I simply repeat these words: “Carry each other’s burdens,” you’re going to go home and have no idea how to put that into practice. How are you supposed to do that?
Well, if you’re going to carry each other’s burdens, at first you’ll need to know what your brothers’ and sisters’ burdens are, won’t you? That means you have to care. You have to ask you have to inquire you have to pry - and, of course, you have to listen. It goes beyond a simple, “How are you doing.” It takes a genuine concern. It takes work. You are opening yourself up to a longer discussion than you’re used to. Be ready for that. Be ready for someone to unload their burdens on you. And be ready to help. Because the second part of carrying each other’s burdens is actually carrying that burden when you don’t want to.
Once you know about a burden that you can help carry, it will never be convenient for you to do so. You know that, don’t you? It will never be at an appropriate time. So what? The Lord doesn’t say, “Carry each other’s burdens only when it is convenient for you to do so.” No, love puts aside its own plans. Love drops everything to help one another - especially one who belongs to the family of believers. Carrying each other’s burdens will be difficult, it won’t be pleasant, and it won’t be short and sweet. That’s why they need your help carrying it. That’s why it’s called a burden.
And a burden can be anything from helping to mow their lawn to giving Scriptural advice on a personal issue that has come up in their life. Any problem, any need, any situation that arises with which you can help is a burden for you to carry. It takes a conscience effort on your part to be on the look out, to keep your eyes open to the possibilities that present themselves. And I know you will, and I know you will strive to do so all the more because we are family. And that’s what family members do.
I often times wonder if we realize how fortunate we actually are. Many churches in many different denominations are more like clubs or institutions or parties or cults or social gatherings. There is no bond there. There is no connection between individuals even if there seems to be. Because without faith in Christ, how strong of a relationship can there really be? That’s what Paul really speaks about here. He literally says, “do good to all people especially to those who belong to the family of faith.” We are a family because of faith in Christ. Faith in his blood and his forgiveness and his resurrection. That is a bond you can’t take this away. You can’t replicate that in any other form. There is nothing like it on this earth nor will there ever be. Remember the beautiful words of our sermon hymn:
Blest be the tie that binds our hearts in Christian love:
The fellowship of kindred minds is like to that above.
We share our mutual woes, our mutual burdens bear,
And often for each other flows the sympathizing tear.
When here our pathways part, we suffer bitter pain;
Yet, one in Christ and one in heart, we hope to meet again.
Thank the Lord that he has brought you into this family. Thank the Lord that you have family members watching you and willing to carry your burdens no matter what they might be. And I pray that our lives on this earth will continue to parallel the love we will all experience one day in the glorious household of heaven.
Amen.

“Praise be to the Lord, to God our Savior, who daily bears our burdens. Our God is a God who saves, from the Sovereign Lord comes escape from death.” - Psalm 68:19-20