Word of Salvation – Vol.06 No.27 – July 1960
Carry Your Own And Each Other’s Burdens
Sermon by Rev. J.W. Deenick on Galatians 6:2 & 5
Liturgy:
Hymn 390
Ten Commandments + Acts 2:37-40
Hymn 376
Scripture reading: Galatians 6
Hymn 95
Sermon: Galatians 6:2 and 5
Hymn 433
Benediction
Hymn 467
Dear brothers and sisters in the Lord Jesus,
Did you ever dream of that lonely island in the Pacific Ocean, that little south sea paradise, where you could live in peace and freedom? No obligations, no responsibilities and far from the worries which make modern life so complicated and so demanding.
There you would be free – really and completely free, there you would be able to live according to your own wishes, to develop your own personality. There you would be free from all the senseless customs, morals, manners and rules of our present day society, free from the countless ties and slaveries which people care to lay upon us.
O, that lonely island, that little paradise of perfect freedom and happiness! It must be somewhere. Poets and wanderers of all ages have been anxiously seeking for it. The English poet Byron is one of them. Saying good-bye to England, seeking to be alone, far away from all the others, he says:
“Adieu, adieu my native shore –
And now I’m in the world alone – upon the wide, wide sea,
but why should I for others groan,
when none will sigh for me
With thee my bark, I’ll swiftly go,
Athwart the foaming brine: nor care what land thou bear’st me to,
So not again to mine.
Welcome, welcome you dark blue waves!
And when you fail my sight,
welcome, ye deserts and ye caves!
My native land — Good Night.”
Some people have suggested that it might be a bit lonely and a bit uncomfortable so absolutely alone, and that it would be more pleasant to have some nice people around to form a small society. But, you know, that is the problem: as soon as there are others, as soon as there is a society, as soon as there are neighbours, the responsibilities come again, and the obligations, the morals, the rules and the customs return.
And, be sure, somebody will rediscover the Ten Commandments. So slavery will return.
Very soon you will have to love your neighbour again. But then peace is over and freedom is over and paradise is lost again.
I know of a Dutch poet, who once said to his spiritual heir and successor:
“My boy, listen to me – beware of your neighbour and hate him, hate him with all your heart, for he is your worst enemy, he will try to make you his slave. As soon as you meet him and speak to him you will lose your freedom. Hate your neighbour as you love yourself. Hate them, men and women, do not listen to them, do not believe them. You will be their prisoner in no time, and they will place you under endless obligations. Never make a promise. Never keep a promise. Never make a bond. Let this be the only promise you make: that you will enjoy life with all that is in you! And exploit your neighbour as much as you can. Be the perfect pirate – the perfect robber and when you are being destroyed at last – then let this be your last word: ‘I enjoyed my life immensely’.”
That is where the dream of the lonely island must end. It is a false dream. Man cannot be alone. We cannot exist alone – we need our neighbours, and they need us. Whether we desire so or not, we will have to live in a society.
But, if that is so, we are still faced with the alternative that we must either love our neighbour or hate him. We must either live as Christians or as robbers, we must either follow the law of piracy – or – the law of Christ.
In our text Paul says: this is the law of Christ, that we bear each other’s burdens and so fulfil the law of Christ.
You know, from the poet’s point of view, let us say, from the human point of view, this is the purest possible folly. Imagine: carry each other’s burdens! That is sheer slavery. That is making yourself the slave of all. And yet, the bible claims, that this is supreme wisdom and that nobody will ever enjoy life, unless he undertakes to be obedient to this law of Christ, that he carries the burdens of his neighbours.
Let us look into the text.
These two statements of Paul may seem to be a bit irrelevant when we first look at them. First: bear the burden of your neighbour, and then: he will have to bear his own burden.
Yet, the Apostle Paul knows what he is talking about. He is not so foolish as to make a contradictory statement like that. To begin with: although the English translation is using – in both verses – the same word “burden”, Paul does not use the same word. The English translation is correct. Both words mean “burden”, but there is some difference. The first word “burden” in: “bear each other’s burdens,” means problems difficulties, weaknesses, sins.
Paul says: bear each other’s problems and troubles, each other’s peculiarities and weaknesses, sorrows and trials. We all have our burdens to bear. Life is in many ways heavy upon us all. Life is trying to get us down into sin and unbelief.
And now Paul says that we must stand by to help each other carry those burdens, we must try to help each other stand fast and overcome the trials and the troubles.
We should be alert like a rescue party, a fire brigade or an ambulance organisation. We must stand by for help in trouble.
When I see that my brother is in trouble, suffering from one of his attacks of unbelief and indifference, I must stand by to help him. When we see that a brother is in danger, is fighting with the weaknesses of his personality, then the church should not start to talk about it, the church should go out to do something about it.
That is what Paul means: are you standing by, brother?
Does the fire-brigade of the church ever go out to prevent calamity in the life of one of its members?
We say that is the work of the deacons, Christian charity. Certainly, but that is the work of the whole church and of all its members. Bear each other’s burdens that is the law of Christ. That is the law of God, as the Lord Jesus Christ has again explained it to us.
That is the law of God as the Lord Jesus Christ has fulfilled it himself. That is what He came to do in the world: carry out burdens. And he indeed carried them, he carried them on the cross.
When he came into the world, He did not look for a lonely island. He came in the midst of our human society, and he carried burdens all His life the burdens of others. He did not say good-bye to his native Jewish land as Byron did to his. He did not say: “Why should I for others groan, when none will sigh for me,” as Byron said.
None really understood him. None really accepted him. He was absolutely alone in our human society and yet He did not say good-bye to that society. He started to carry burdens. He came to Mary Magdalene to help her bear her burden. He came to Peter, John and Judas, to the Pharisees and the Sadducees, to the blind, the lame and the lepers – He was a fire-brigade and a St.John’s ambulance organisation just by himself.
He said I will carry your burdens…. and you take mine for my yoke is easy and my burden is light. And so He carried the burden of sinners, the burden also of their condemnation. He took the weight of our sins upon himself, and carried it through the judgment of God.
That is the law of Christ.
Paul says: we must observe that law, and fulfil it, first in the church, and also in the world.
As you know, brothers and sisters, this verse is a favourite text for weddings. We then say to bride and bridegroom – look here, you are going to make a covenant, you are going to make a promise. There are burdens to bear in married life, each other’s burdens, each other’s peculiarities, each other’s sins. You will never be alone any more, and you should never try to be alone, you should never desire to be alone. Are you prepared to face that? Are you prepared to carry each other’s burdens?
But, congregation, that is valid in every sphere of life. Are we prepared to face that?
In the first place within the fellowship of the church. As members of the church we will have to carry the burdens of the church and of its members. We are not supposed to criticise the church, we have pledged ourselves to build it. We are not supposed to criticise our brothers and sisters, we have pledged ourselves to help them – to help them carry their burden.
There are many peculiar people in our congregations – in fact every one of its members has his own peculiarities, his own sins, his own remarkable ways of living the one family is living in this style, the other family is living in that style, the one man is a bit difficult in this respect, the other in that respect and yet we have no right to criticise brother so and so for what he is and how he is – we will have to help him, we will have to bear his burden.
Are you, members, prepared to face that responsibility? No lonely island, but a church full of members and a world full of men and women and your responsibility is in the midst of them. That is the law of Christ.
There are members in this church, who even hardly know the names of their fellow-members. That is not as it should be. We should know them, and know ourselves to be responsible for them. My question to every one of us this morning is – I mean to everyone, you know – are you carrying the burdens of your fellow Christians?
You must answer that question for yourself. Are you able to say: ‘Yes, I believe, that by the grace of God I am trying to carry the burden of some of my neighbours.’? Are you? That is fulfilling the law of Christ.
– o –
Paul realizes of course that ultimately everyone will have to carry his own burden. That is his second word “burden”.
It has a somewhat different meaning: it means – everyone has his own task, his own responsibility, his own work. That is also true: we stand before God individually. We have our personal responsibility over against God and over against our neighbours. I will have to make my own decision. Nobody else can make a decision for me. Nobody else can believe for me… can take refuge in Christ for me.
They may be able to help me, to call me back in times of difficulty, yet I will have to carry my own burden, to make my own decision, to pray my own prayer, and in the day of judgment I will have to carry my own responsibility with my own sins, unbelief, and backslidings.
There will be only One, who will be in the position to take over my burden in that day: Jesus Christ. He took it over already on Calvary.
But then again, my relation towards Jesus will have to be a personal relation. Nobody else can come to Jesus for me. I will have to come myself.
That is what Paul had in mind: everyone his own burden.
Do you see, brothers and sisters, how true all this is? Although we will have to bear our own burden, we will nevertheless have to carry the burdens of many. And I may say: just because I have to bear my own burden therefore I have to carry the burdens of many. For: because I am personally responsible to God therefore I am personally responsible for many.
That is the message of our text! We are responsible to God and responsible for many.
Do you, congregation, accept that double responsibility?
The one burden is never without the other.
I cannot be a member of the church of Jesus just by myself. There are no lonely islands in the kingdom of heaven.
Oh, let us carry our own burden. Let us accept our personal responsibility to God.
If we do, we are right in the midst of a mighty company, and we have a mighty task.
No, we do not need to be sentimental about that Christian brotherly love, if we only PRACTICE it!
Blest be the tie that binds
Our hearts in Christian love.
We will sing that hymn – I agree it is a bit a sentimental hymn – it is a bit too sweet, but that does not excuse our harshness.
There must be that tie that binds our hearts in Christian love.
And we must share our mutual woes and bear our mutual burdens, our fears, our hopes, our aims, should be one, our comforts and our cares.
We must carry each other’s burdens and so fulfil the law of Christ.
Amen.