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Better Together: Carrying Each Other's Burdens
August 6, 2023 · 30 min
Watch A Significant Life every week in the PrayTV App or on YouTube.
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Series A Significant Life August 6, 2023 · 30 min · A Significant Life
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Jim Graff is a respected pastor, leader, and author who loves helping people fulfill their unique
potential while finding their significance in Jesus Christ.
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0:04 Welcome to a significant life. On this episode, we'll be finishing up our series called better together, where we've been talking from scripture about building blocks to close relationships. I'm so excited for you guys0:15 to hear from my brother as he's talking about carrying each other's burdens. I know you'll be encouraged.0:20 You know, we were not made to do life alone,0:23 and that means we don't0:24 have to carry things alone. Galatians 6 2 says, carry each other's burdens, and in this way, you will fulfill the law of Christ. So I'm excited to look at how we can do that well. God's word has a lot0:36 to say about it.0:37 It really is such a great message. It's such an important building block0:40 to building life giving relationships.0:43 And that's God's desire for each and every 1 of you joining us. Be encouraged by the message today.1:06 We are finishing a series called better together. Everybody say better Better. Together. In this series, we've been talking about different skill sets we have to learn to1:18 cultivate so that we can have good relationships with those around us. We've talked about communication. We've talked about conflict resolution. And today, I wanna talk to you about carrying each1:30 other's burdens. Everybody say carrying Caring. Each other's burdens. Carrying each other's burdens can be tricky, but here's the thing. We are commanded. Everybody say commanded.1:41 Commanded. We're commanded to carry each other's burdens. So if we want to be good friends, good family members, good church members, we have to learn how to carry1:53 each other's burdens. Paul writes to a church in Galatia and he says in Galatians 6 2, he says this, carry each other's burdens and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.2:05 What's the law of Christ? John 13 34, Jesus says, a new command I give you, love 1 another. This is the law that2:16 matters most. So what is Paul writing to do? Paul is trying to explain how we've got to carry burdens out of love, not create burdens out of legalism. He's trying to2:28 contrast 2 different lifestyles. A lifestyle of people who live by Jewish law, and then a lifestyle of people who live by the love of the Holy Spirit. That's what we need to do. So the million dollar question is2:39 how do people trying to live by God's love carry each other's burdens? That's what he wants to answer. Galatians 6 1 through 2. Brothers and sisters, he says, if2:51 someone is caught in a sin, you who live by the spirit, see, live by the spirit, should restore that person gently. Everybody say gently. So3:03 here's the first thing. If you're taking notes or you have your hand out, Paul says to carry each other's burdens, first of all, we must do this with gentleness. And we have to remember to be tender to3:15 their situation. Be tender to their situation. I think this is how we often think though. I think we think, pastor G, if somebody has some burdens, I'll help out. Like if3:27 they're sick, I'll bring them Tylenol or chicken noodle. I don't know what to do when you're sick, I just tough it out. But if their car breaks down, right, I'll be there living Uber. I'll be there,3:39 I'll give them a ride, but I think at some point in our mind we kind of have this shift. And we say, however, if they're carrying burdens because of their own sin and their own dumb3:50 choices, well, I'll tell them the truth, but really they need to get their life right with God and they need to figure that out. Now I wanna point out, did you notice that Paul talks about the4:02 burdens we carry because of our sin? And I started to think about how strange that was, and then I realized, follow me here, I think most of our burdens we4:13 carry are because, to some degree, we're sinful. And Paul says, even in those ones, be gentle with it. Let me give you some examples. Maybe somebody is financially4:25 burdened because if they're honest, they spent too much money that they didn't have on things. Right? And if you were to be not gentle, right, if you were to be not gentle, you might say, well, hey,4:37 you wouldn't have this burden if you'd stop living with so much greed. You wouldn't have this burden if you'd, you know, stop spending money you don't have on things that you don't need. And there might4:49 be truth to that, but guess what? That's not very gentle. Or young people. Okay? Let's say that you pick somebody who is cute, but they love God because there's a lot of them out there, and then they cheated on you,5:01 somebody laughed real hard. And then they cheated on you, broke your heart, whatever. Well, if you were to be not gentle, you might be like, well, if you'd pick them better. If you would value what5:13 God values, then maybe you'd have somebody who actually treated, and there might be truth to that. Correct? But it's not necessarily very gentle. Our burdens are often5:25 caused by sin, like Paul's saying here, and he still says, be gentle when you're helping people carry those burdens. Why? This is the this is the key to5:37 the whole verse. Please put up verses 1 and 2 again. He says this, brothers and sisters, if somebody is caught in a sin let me explain something. Caught in a sin. Everybody say5:49 caught in a sin. Caught in a Now in Greek, every scholar points out, he uses this word, prolymbano. Prolimbano. Here's what that means. It means to get6:00 something by surprise. Like, oh, how'd I end up here? Oops. And I started to realize most people get caught up and burdened. Hear me out. Most people get caught up and burdened6:12 not because they did the math, they thought about this, that's gonna lead to this and that's exactly where I wanna go. No. Most people just lived what they knew. They lived what they saw6:23 modeled and eventually ended up in a place that they were kinda caught by surprise in. Let me explain this in my life. Okay? I'm gonna use myself as the bad example. I was raised in6:35 church, in church in the nineties, no less. Alright? So some of you guys, you come, you get your little latte, you sit in the 11 o'clock service. I envy you. Okay? Try6:46 being a pastor's kid in the nineties. We're here at 8 AM. Service don't start till 8 30, but we're here at 8 AM. If they're short on greeters, Lil Jeffries out there. Welcome to church. Okay? 8 AM. And then it's 8 30,6:58 I'm here at church. Oh, everybody's leaving? They're going home to watch football? Wrong. 10 30, I'm here again. Welcome to church. And then everybody goes home for lunch. Right? Well, that's7:10 good. But we're going home for a quick power nap because we're back Sunday night too, baby. We roll at doctor Stolus, I know you know what I'm talking about. We're back Sunday night. And when everybody's talking about7:20 Sunday night football, I'm like, I don't know, man. I was at church. And then we're here Wednesday night. What do know about church in the nineties? Or what about Royal Rangers? This probably don't does that7:32 mean anything to anybody? Let's go. Okay. You're gonna get me here. Okay? Royal Rangers. Well, this really prestigious club I was in, it was a memory verse club where you'd learn scriptures and you'd get7:44 badges on your vest for learning scriptures. And you know, I was the pastor's kid so I had to flex. Like, I had to have the most badges. Walk around like, oh, you don't have your Leviticus badge?7:56 Weird. That's strange. You're in John 3 16. I remember that 1 a long time ago. You know?8:07 I get older. This is just how I was raised. I didn't pick it. I didn't pick this. It's just how I was raised. And then you get older, and you know what I realized? 1 day, that I could be kinda judgmental of people who8:19 weren't raised the same way. Be at school and be like, your family doesn't go to church? Wait, your your parents don't read the bible? I didn't sit there and try to be judgmental, but 1 day you just realize,8:30 oops, caught up in it. Surprise, I can be. But I'd be willing to bet if you were raised like me, you might struggle with the same thing. And here's what Paul's saying. I think Paul's8:42 saying, be gentle when you help people through what they're struggling with because if you knew everything that they were going through and everything that happened to them, you might be just as caught up and8:54 surprised by what they're in as they are. I'll never forget. I was on the way to an away game in high school, and I had this really good friend. We were sitting by9:06 each other. We stopped at the convenience store to get something in our stomach before the game, and I knew he didn't have much money. We were real close. So I looked at him and was like, hey, bro, you want me to get9:15 you? I can get you something. He's like, no. I'm fine. Alright. So we get back on the bus after the convenience store, and my man's pulling out all kind of stuff from his hoodie, Pop Tarts and9:27 Snickers. He had more than me. And I was like, oh, you know, all oblivious, who bought you those? And he was like, oh, I got that 5 finger discount. That's9:39 what he told me. Some of y'all know about the 5 finger discount. The Lord saves you. Praise God. I was mortified. I was like, you stole that? Like I was I was raised on in West Park like the9:51 FBI's gonna pull our bus over. We're all going to hell. This is horrible. I was so mortified that, you know, he did but I'll never forget what he told me. I'll10:02 never forget. He looked at me and he said, yeah. He said, I asked my grandma for money this morning and she didn't have any, but she told me, hey. If your team stops, make sure you take something for food because you10:14 can't be hungry for the game. And I just remember sitting there thinking, you know what, Jeffrey? If you were raised like that with the parent who told you that, who's to say you wouldn't do the same thing?10:26 And I realized that my friend, 16 years old, he didn't sit out there and map out all his bad decisions, but 1 day he kind of probably realized,10:38 oh, surprise, I'm kinda caught up in this sin. I'm not saying it's okay. Please don't twist my words. I'm not saying, yeah, he stole yeah. That's not what I'm saying. I'm saying this. When you10:50 realize that a lot of people are burdened and sinful because they got caught up in it, you're just a little more gentle with how you handle people, and that's Paul's point. Like, hey,11:02 be gentle with people. I'm not saying don't tell them right from wrong. I'm just saying, hey, be gentle. There are people in here right now. Maybe you're caught up in sin. We all are. I don't know what kind you're caught11:14 up in. Maybe maybe you're in here living as if you're married, but you're not legally married, you know? And I unashamedly say, I think you should try it God's way. I think marriage is the best. I think it's11:25 the most life giving thing you could do to follow God, but I'm also gonna say this, I realize I don't know you like that. Like, I don't know why you might be hesitant to handle relationships God's way. I11:37 don't know. Maybe you saw an ugly divorce with your parents growing up, or maybe you watched your parents stick in a horrible, abusive, unhappy marriage and it made you scared to commit. I do not know you like that, and11:48 I realized that. But I'd be willing to bet that at some point, you were kinda caught up and surprised like, oh, I have relational baggage. Oh, I have trust issues.12:00 And you're sitting there thinking, oh, I didn't really plan to be here, but I just got here. And I guess what I'm saying is if I ever get to talk to you 1 on 1 about it, I promise you this. I promise I'll be very gentle.12:12 I promise that I won't just try to change you, but I'll actually get to know you. Because the 1 thing I know more and more as I become a Christian is that Jesus is so gentle with12:24 us as he shows us what's right and wrong. And if you really know the grace of God, you know what I'm talking about because the closer you get to the light, the more stained you see you are. And you just say, God, thanks12:36 for taking me 1 step at a time and not trying to condemn me, but loving me all the way through. Is anybody in here thankful for the gentle grace of God?12:48 In fact, have you ever thought about Jesus' teaching on the splinter in your eye? Check this out. Maybe pull out something you haven't thought about before. Luke 6 41 and 42. It says,13:00 why do you notice the splinter in your brother's eye, but you don't perceive the wooden beam in your own? How can you say to your brother, brother, let me remove that splinter in your eye when you don't even notice the13:12 wooden beam in your own? We'll typically take this scripture and we'll start talking about, you know, check yourself where you judge other people, but have you ever thought about the fact that Jesus says there's a13:24 splinter in your eye? That's weird. That's not normally where you get a splinter. Think about that. If it is, you're doing something wrong. Like, you normally get a splinter maybe in your hand because13:36 you're working with wood or maybe in your foot because you're walking barefoot. Why would Jesus say if you have a splinter in your eye? He's making another point. The eye is 1 of the most sensitive areas13:48 of your body. And Jesus is showing, hey. If you want to do more healing than harm, be gentle when you're dealing with it. Paul captures13:59 the gentle heart of Jesus so well. And in this first verse, he's trying to remind us, don't just seek there to be legalistic and change everybody, really get to know them. Yes, stand for14:11 truth, but do it in a way that wins the world over because of how gentle and how loving you are. Now what else does he say? Verses 1 and 2 again. He says, brothers and sisters, if someone14:23 is caught in a sin, you who live by the spirit should restore that person gently. Now watch this. He says, but watch yourself. Everybody say, watch yourself. Or why do we watch ourselves? Because you14:34 may also be tempted. So follow me. Okay? Paul says, first of all, be gentle. Second of all, be humble. Why? Why should I be humble? Because you might also be14:46 tempted. With what sin? Jeffrey, keep reading. It's funny to me. In verse 3 he says, if anyone thinks there's something when they're not, uh-oh,14:58 they deceive themselves. Each 1 should test their own actions. Then they can take pride in themselves alone without comparing themselves to somebody else. For each 1 should carry their own15:10 load. So it's kinda funny. Paul says, hey, be gentle. But then he says, don't just be gentle, stay humble. Why? Because you might start getting filled with pride, thinking15:21 you're something, thinking you're all that and a bag of chips. Because here's the honest truth. It's easy to get prideful when you're the 1 carrying someone else's burden. Pastor Tony sent me the funniest meme. I thought15:33 it was funny, but again, I was raised in church. Could you guys put the meme up? It said, I am so disciplined in my spiritual walk, no sin can get me. Boom. Pride. It's sneaky like that,15:45 man. Pride will just creep in there. So here's what I'm saying. Carry each other's burdens. Number 1, with gentleness. Be tender to their situation. But number 2, carry burdens with humility15:57 and be truthful about our condition. You know pride's the origin of every sin? When Lucifer led a revolt against God in heaven because he thought he should be in charge, what was at the root of that? Pride.16:09 When Adam and Eve said, ah, the fruit's probably fine to eat even though God said, we know better. What's at the root of that? It's pride. And Paul's warning us of this. He's saying, you can do a good thing, like carry16:21 burdens, with a prideful heart, and you gotta be careful that you're not doing that. That message is all throughout the Bible. Even Jesus says this in so many words. In Luke 18, he's telling a story16:33 about a Pharisee and a tax collector who both go to pray. And Jesus says, 2 men went up to the temple to pray, 1 a pharisee and the other a tax collector. The16:45 pharisee stood by himself and prayed, God, I thank you that I'm not like other people. Robbers, evildoers, adulterers, even like this tax collector. I fast twice a16:56 week and give a tenth of all I get. But the tax collector stood at a distance. He wouldn't even look up to heaven, but he beat his breast and he said, God, have mercy on me,17:09 a sinner. I tell you that this man rather than the other went home justified before God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and all those who humble17:20 themselves will be exalted. You see the principle? The Pharisee did a good thing. He prayed, but he did it with a prideful heart. And God smiled on and lifted up the 117:32 who did it humbly. So in the words of the apostle Paul or Kendrick Lamar, sit down, be humble. Why? Because none of us are all that in a bag of chips.17:44 Every single 1 of us is a sinner saved by grace. And when we start getting a little bit out of our league, we start living with the spirit. Even if we're right on the outside, we're wrong on the inside, and17:56 that's a dangerous place. And it will backfire. Everybody say backfire. Backfire. It's like the story I heard about this lady. Okay? She was going to I'm a little nervous18:08 to tell you all this, so we'll see how it goes. She was going to her husband, and they're having marriage problems. And she was like, you don't love me like you should. And he was like,18:19 babe, I want to love you as as best as I can, but you gotta tell me how to love you. And she's like, no. I shouldn't have to tell you that. I'm a princess filled with a lot of pride. Somebody laughed.18:31 I'm a I'm a queen. I'm a princess. You should know how to love me. And he's like, you just I just need help. I want to. And she's like, you know what? I'm tired of this. I need to get away18:43 as far away as I can, and I just need to think. So she goes to the airport, and she books the furthest ticket away that she can find. It just so happens to be to India. So she's in India, and I'm not18:55 gonna lie to you, India was not great for her pride because when she got off the plane, everybody was obsessed with her. They were like, oh my gosh. People were literally, like, worshiping the ground that she walked19:06 on, and it just fed her pride. She's like, see, I didn't have to tell them to do this. My husband should just know. Worshiping the ground she walks on. So she goes home and he's like, hey babe, I missed you. How was your19:18 trip to India? And she was like, oh, it showed me something. It showed me I was right. I shouldn't have to tell you how to treat me like a princess because in India, oh, they were obsessed with me. In19:30 India, I didn't have to tell anybody anything. And guess what? They literally worshiped the ground that I walked on. And the husband sat there and he said, oh no, babe. You know they worship cows in India. Right?19:47 That's not funny. Listen. That's not a that's not a slight to anybody. It's just a funny19:58 principle to let you know when you live with the spirit of pride, it will backfire. Everybody say backfire. Backfire. Whenever you help somebody through their issues,20:10 whether you're a parent trying to help a kid or, you know, maybe you're a kid trying to help your parent or, you know, you're trying to help your friend, your church member, here's the attitude every single 1 of us20:22 should have. We should sit there and say, hey. I'm helping you right now, but there's probably gonna come a day where you're gonna have to help me through some stuff too. You know why? Because I'm a sinner saved by grace20:33 like everybody else, and I remember the gospel, and the gospel tells me I have no room for anything but to help other people from a humble heart. You know, Jesus on the cross for our sin, it's not something that we20:45 remember 1 time when we give our life to him at salvation. Jesus on the cross for our sin is what we remember every single day of our life. Why? Because when you work the gospel in your20:57 heart, when you remember that the God of the world saw you in your sin, and when you were so far away, like pastor Mike said, he came running to you, that is the very power we get to be21:08 humble and help those around us carry their burdens. Amen? Amen. So at the end of the day, if we're to be humble, if we're to be gentle, the question still stands,21:20 how? How do I do this? Where do I get the power? Because let's be honest, it's hard. It's good to sit here in church, but then when you're you're asked to give a hand to somebody who's frustrating you, you're asked to21:32 give a hand to pull somebody out of a hole that you think they've dug themselves in, it's just hard. Where do we get the power to help people carry burdens gently and humbly?21:44 That's what I was praying through this week. And then I realized, wait. Wait. Wait. Started thinking about the apostle Paul writing about burdens that are humble and carrying them in a way that's gentle, and I21:55 realized he wasn't the first 1 to talk like that. And I started thinking about Jesus' words. In Matthew 11 28 through 30, Jesus said, come to me all you who are weary and22:07 burdened, and I'll give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me. Why? Here it is. For Jesus is saying, I am gentle and22:20 humble in heart. Let me tell you why that hit me differently. Because if there was 1 person in this world that didn't have to be gentle and humble, it was22:31 Jesus. We have to be gentle and humble. You know why? Because we're gonna mess up. We're gonna need grace, and when we need grace, we're gonna hope to God that we were gentle and humble with other people so that22:43 they were gentle and humble with us. But Jesus never would need grace. Jesus never would need to ask for forgiveness. He'd never sinned. If there was 1 person who didn't have to be gentle or22:55 humble, it was him. But not only was he gentle and humble with us, but he said, you'll never be able to lift that burden. Give it to me. And he put it on his back in the form of a cross, and he said, I'll carry what you23:05 couldn't so you could live free and free enough to help other people. I wanna read that scripture 1 more time, and I wanna23:17 point out something that God's been really dealing with me on. Matthew 11 28, he says, come to me all who are weary and burdened and I'll give you rest. And then he says this, take my23:29 yoke upon you and learn from me. Isn't it interesting that Jesus' solution to us being weary and needing rest, his solution is to take his23:41 yoke? Maybe you don't know what a yoke is, if so that's totally fine. A yoke was an instrument for work. It was what the oxen would put on their shoulders to help them carry everything they had to carry. And23:53 it's funny to me because where Jesus is like, oh, you're tired? Come on, here's my yoke. And I'm like, when I'm tired, I don't want something to do more work. I want a vacation.24:05 I wanna escape. But Jesus knew, listen, you don't need just an escape. You don't need just a vacation because you know what? When the vacation days run out,24:17 we're stuck looking at the same thing that was stressing us out in the first place. And Jesus said, you really want real rest. You really want burden free life. Come to me and take my yoke. In other words, you24:29 don't need an escape. You need new equipment. You need a new way to carry everything that's on your shoulders, a way that I'm showing you with a god who'll never leave you, a god who24:41 will never forsake you, a god who will tell you what to pick up and what to put down. I think sometimes we're burning because we're picking up things that god's asking us to put down, and we're putting down things God's24:51 asking us to pick up. We gotta figure out the way that the way, truth, and life is telling us to go about life because he's not asking us, just find an escape. He's saying, pick up new equipment.25:03 Learn to carry it differently. So here's my question. What are you carrying? Are you carrying a sinful lifestyle that's burdening you? Hey, man. Leave that and pick up God's truth. It's lighter.25:16 Are you are you carrying so much shame and condemnation? Leave that. Pick up his mercy and his grace. His mercies are new every single morning. Are you picking up and25:27 carrying this this heart of perfectionism? Like, if you don't do it all perfectly, the world's gonna stop. Man, leave that. That's too heavy. Just pick up what he says to do and do your best for the25:39 father who sees you and who will reward everything you do in private. We can't look for other ways to resolve our burdens other than the way Jesus says, take up my yoke upon you.25:51 I'm gentle and I'm humble at heart. We don't need an escape. We don't need some vacation for a week. Can I tell you what we need? We need a savior for the rest of our life. Amen. And that's exactly what26:03 we have. A god who said, come to me. You who are weary and carry heavy burdens, I'll give you rest. I'm gentle and I'm humble. Some of you need to know you could take whatever you're carrying to the foot of the26:15 cross because it's already been lifted. It's already been lightened, and the light and load of God is ready for you to take up in whatever area you need to take up. This is how we live free and free26:27 enough to carry other people's burdens. So as I close, we have to carry each other's burdens, first of all, with gentleness and be tender to their situation.26:38 Secondly, with humility, being truthful about our condition. But lastly, we gotta carry it with gratitude and be thankful that God carried our burden. That's the26:50 good news. That's the type of news that makes you wanna live differently in the world. So my challenge to you is go and live differently in the world. Amen?27:05 Gentleness, humility, and gratitude. What good virtues to keep in our hearts as we carry each other's burdens. You know, it's not always easy to bear with 1 another, is it? But it's a necessary part of relationship. And27:17 when done well, it can bring so much healing and closeness to our relationships.27:21 I love getting to wrap up this Better Together series because I feel like the 4 things we covered really are such important building blocks to close relationships. We covered the communication challenge,27:33 enduring conflict management, caring enough to be constructive, and then today, carrying each other's burdens.27:41 Yeah. And if you miss any of those and would like to check them out, you can do so on pray dot com or on our website, asignificantlife dot com. On our website, you'll also find a bunch of resources to help you grow in27:51 your walk with God. So we would love for you to check that out. Jeff, I loved hearing you speak on this topic because you've been our next generation pastor for several years now, and I know you have such a heart for the28:02 next generation, and also a pulse on the battles that they're facing.28:05 Yeah, man. Generation Z and Generation Alpha, which isn't that a cool name for generation z? It's cool. They aren't growing up in the same world that many people alive today grew up28:17 in. There are issues they face that are unique to the times we live in, but you know what I've found? Nothing surprises God. And I've seen that this next generation is hungry for the real thing.28:29 We have the opportunity to help find that in Jesus. Some of you Gen Zers, you might be joining us right now and we want you to28:37 know that we love you,28:38 we are proud of you, and we believe that the greatest days for the kingdom of God are ahead of us. In fact, school is getting ready to start for many, so let's all be praying that our next generation has an amazing28:49 school year.28:49 Amen. I love that. Well, thank you guys so much for joining us today, and we hope to see you next time on A Significant Life. God bless.29:00 The Holy Spirit is a gift to all of us, given to us by God, sent from heaven to be our helper. Are you living in the full power of this incredible gift? In Jim and29:12 Tamara Graff's new book Maximum Impact, you'll learn the importance of living by the Holy Spirit, understanding practical ways to do so in your daily life, even in the most ordinary of times. Even29:23 Jesus knew that living the Christian life can be hard, but he never wanted us to live in our own strength. This book will help you see that every part of our life is open to change and we can achieve our maximum29:35 potential through the Holy Spirit. Are you ready to claim this promise that God has given to every believer and change your life? If you want more of our God and the kind of power it takes to make a maximum29:47 impact on our world, visit asignificant life dot com. And for your gift of any amount, receive your copy of Maximum Impact today. Visit asignificant life dot com.
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The Bond of Peace: Forbearance: His Way or the Highway Jim Graff
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