Galatians 6:1-5: Bearing One Another’s Burdens
Preacher: Josh Tancordo Series: Galatians: No Other Gospel Scripture: Galatians 6:1–5
Galatians 6:1-5: Bearing One Another’s Burdens
We’ve been working our way passage by passage through Paul’s letter to the Galatians, and today the next passage we come to is Galatians 6:1-5. It says,
1 Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted. 2 Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. 3 For if anyone thinks he is something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself. 4 But let each one test his own work, and then his reason to boast will be in himself alone and not in his neighbor. 5 For each will have to bear his own load.
May God bless the reading of his Word.
Let’s pray: Father, we’re told that the one who delights in your Word is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in season and that has leaves that do not wither. We want to be that tree. So please, open up your Word to us this morning so that we can be rooted in your Word, nourished in your Word, and sustained by your Word. Holy Spirit, use the things taught in this passage to change us from within. It’s in Jesus’ name we pray, amen. The Bible’s clear that God expects Christians to love and care for one another. And there are a wide variety of practical ways we seek to do that at our church. One way is by bringing meals to those who have just had a baby or who are going through a difficult time. I can still remember to this day what a blessing it was to be on the receiving end of some of those meals when each of our four children was born. There’s just something about good food that makes everything feel a whole lot easier and more manageable.
Not only that, another very practical way the people of our church often demonstrate love to one another is by helping one another move. I’ve always believed that there are two kinds of friends: those who only enjoy hanging out with you when you’re doing something fun and those who are also willing to help you load or unload a moving truck. You know someone’s a real friend if they’re willing to show up and help out on moving day. And I’m grateful that it’s very common in our church for people to be willing to help one another and demonstrate love to one another in that way.
Yet there’s also another way in which we’re called to demonstrate love to one another. And it’s something that we may not often think about and that can also be rather difficult at times. However, it’s nevertheless one of the most important and essential ways in which Christians are called to love and care for one another. And that is by addressing sin in one another’s lives.
And that’s what today’s main passage of Galatians 6:1-5 is all about. The way this passage describes it is in the language of bearing one another’s burdens. This passage teaches us that God expects Christians to bear one another’s burdens. That’s the main idea. God expects Christians to bear one another’s burdens. And as we’ll see, we do that specifically by addressing sin in one another’s lives—as difficult and uncomfortable as that might be at times.
Now, to remind you of the context here, Paul’s just described for us in the previous passage how the Holy Spirt helps us overcome the sin in our own lives. We have the ability to overcome our sinful desires through the power of the Holy Spirt. However, that’s not the end of our responsibility. We’re responsible not just to make sure that we ourselves are overcoming sin but that we’re also helping others overcome sin whenever it seems like sin might be getting the upper hand in their lives. That’s what biblical love looks like—caring not just about our own welfare but also about the welfare of those around us.
So, let’s walk through this passage together and see what Paul says about ministering to one another in this way. Look with me first at verse 1. Paul writes, “Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted.”
So, Paul’s speaking of a situation in which a fellow Christian is “caught” in a “transgression.” “Transgression” is just another word for sin, since, when we sin, we’re transgressing—or violating—God’s law. And for someone to be “caught” in a transgression means they’ve become entangled in a certain sinful behavior. The Greek word translated here in the ESV as “caught” is also translated as “overtaken” or “overcome.” You might compare it to a vicious dog or a wild animal overtaking a person and causing them significant harm. That’s the situation in which Christians sometimes find themselves. They allow a certain sin to gain a foothold in their life and are eventually overtaken by that sin. Even though they originally thought they’d be able to indulge in the sin just a little bit and more or less keep it under control, that’s not what ends up happening. Instead of them controlling the sin, the sin gradually but inevitably ends up controlling them. That’s what it means to be “caught” in a “transgression.”
And notice that Paul says, “if anyone is caught in any transgression.” This is something that can happen to “anyone.” No one is immune to this danger. No matter how strong or spiritually mature you are—or think you are—playing around with sin is like playing around with fire. You’re going to get burned. So, don’t think this can’t happen to you. It can happen to “anyone.”
And whenever someone in the church becomes caught in a transgression in this way, Paul states that “you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness.” Now, to be “spiritual” in this sense doesn’t mean that you’re a part of some elite group of Christians who are way more “spiritual” than everyone else. Instead, keep in mind that Paul’s just spoken in the previous chapter of the central role the Holy Spirit has in the life of every healthy Christian. He’s described how every Christian should “walk by the Spirit,” be “led by the Spirit,” bear “the fruit of the Spirit,” “live by the Spirit,” and “keep in step with the Spirit.” That’s what the normal Christian life should look like. So, here in verse 1 of our main passage, when Paul addresses “you who are spiritual,” he’s speaking not to some special group of elite Christians but rather to the average Christians who comprise a local church.
And Paul says that these Christians have a responsibility to minister to the Christian who’s become entangled in sin. Specifically, Paul says it’s their responsibility to “restore” that Christian. The Greek word translated as “restore” was often used of putting a dislocated bone back in its place. Thankfully, I’ve never personally had something dislocated, but I’ve been told by numerous people that dislocating something is quite painful and that putting the dislocated bone back in its place is even more painful. Yet it’s obviously something that has to be done.
Similarly, restoring someone who’s become entangled in sin can, at times, be painful. It often involves some rather difficult conversations. Because, in order to be restored to spiritual wholeness, the person has to be made aware of their sin and of the serious nature of their sin. So, quite often, the first step on the path toward restoration is confrontation. We have to bring the sin to the person’s attention and encourage them to admit that what they’re doing is sinful. Only then will it be possible to help them along in the process of confession and repentance and ultimately restoration.
Not only that, Paul tells us that, as we seek to minister to one another in this way, we should do so “in a spirit of gentleness.” “[R]estore him in a spirit of gentleness,” Paul says. You see, there are two ways Christians often fail to deal with sin in the church in an appropriate way. The first way is by simply not dealing with the sin at all. Unfortunately, it’s not uncommon for churches to turn a blind eye to obvious and blatant sin that a member of the church is committing. Now, notice I said a member of the church rather than merely anyone who happens to be attending the church. Our responsibility is specifically to minister to church members in this way. And not only does a failure to address obvious and ongoing sin in the life of a church member allow them to continue down a path that will ultimately lead to their destruction, it also causes tremendous harm to the spiritual health and corporate witness of that church. Nevertheless, many churches simply ignore obvious and ongoing sin in the lives of church members.
Yet there’s also another error that churches and Christians sometimes fall into that’s on the opposite end of the spectrum. Instead of not confronting sin, they might confront sin in a way that’s very harsh. And that’s the error Paul’s warning against when he says to “restore” the person “in a spirit of gentleness.” If there’s a sin that needs to be addressed in someone’s life, we need to make sure we do that through confrontation rather than condemnation. There’s a big difference between confronting someone in a spirit of gentleness and humility and condemning someone in a spirit of harshness and self-righteousness.
It's also worth mentioning that, if we’ve personally been affected by someone else’s sin, we may find it to be quite difficult to approach them in a spirit of gentleness at first. So, it may be best for us to hold off confronting them until we’ve had some time to calm down and prayerfully reflect on the situation and ask God to show us anything within our own hearts that shouldn’t be there. This might require a few hours or a few days or—in certain situations—even a few weeks. The goal is to make sure we’re spiritually prepared to minister to the other person in a spirit of gentleness and love and in a way that will actually be helpful to them.
In addition, we also need to be prepared for restoration to be a process. Jesus helpfully lays out this process for us in Matthew 18:15-17. He says, 15 “If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother. 16 But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses. 17 If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. And if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector.” And the ultimate goal even of that last step is to restore the person to close fellowship with God and other Christians.
I’d also like to address a potential objection to the responsibility of Christians to minister to one another in this way. I imagine that at one time or another, you’ve heard someone quote Jesus’s command in Matthew 7:1 to “Judge not, that you be not judged.” Yet, if you look at the context of that verse, Jesus is clearly talking not just about any judgment but specifically about a hypocritical and self-righteous judgment in which we’re hyper-sensitive to the sins of others but blind to our own sins. That’s the kind of judgment Jesus is prohibiting.
By contrast, when we address someone else’s sin in a gentle and thoughtful way, it’s not at all a “judgmental” thing but is actually a profoundly loving thing. And there are four reasons why addressing someone’s sin is such a loving thing to do. All of these relate to how harmful sin is.
First, sin alienates us from God. The God of the Bible is a God of absolute holiness. In Habakkuk 1:13, the prophet says to God, “Your eyes are too pure to look on evil; you cannot tolerate wrongdoing.” So, when we sin, it cuts us off from God. Now, if we’re a Christian, Jesus has made atonement for our sins so that we’re not sent to hell. But any sin we commit still alienates us from God in the sense that the fellowship between us and God is broken—and will remain broken until we repent. As long as we’re tolerating sin in our lives, we’ll never be able to enjoy closeness with God.
Second, sin leads to untold misery in our lives. In Psalm 32:3-4, David describes what it was like to tolerate sin in his life. He writes, 3 For when I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. 4 For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer. If you’re genuinely a Christian, you won’t be able to tolerate sin in your life without being absolutely miserable. And not only will sin make you miserable on the inside, it will also have very real consequences on the outside as well. It will gradually come to dominate you and wreak havoc in your life in all kinds of different ways. In reality, sin is like cancer. If left alone, it will grow and metastasize and eventually destroy you.
Then, number three, sin hurts the people around us. When we sin, it doesn’t just affect us but also has a way of affecting the people around us. This may not always be apparent at first but will inevitably become more apparent and more pronounced as we continue down the path of sin and become progressively more overtaken by it.
And finally, sin harms our gospel witness. If you identify yourself as a Christian and yet openly live in a sinful way, people who aren’t yet Christians tend to notice that kind of thing and subsequently become even more closed off to the gospel message we’re called to proclaim—the message of Jesus rescuing us from our sin. How in the world can you expect to persuade people that Jesus can rescue them from the sin in their life if you’re openly tolerating sin in your life? Now, obviously, we can never be perfect. But there’s a difference between at least trying to live in a way that’s consistent with biblical teaching versus not even making any effort to do that.
So, sin is incredibly harmful in these four ways. And when you consider these ways in which sin is so harmful, it becomes apparent that addressing sin in the life of a fellow Christian isn’t a “judgmental” thing to do—according to the meaning many people would attach to that word—but is actually a profoundly loving thing to do.
Yet, at the same time, we do need to be careful that we don’t go overboard with all of this. Although addressing sin in the life of a fellow Christian is indeed a very loving thing to do, we never want to become so focused on the sins of others that we conveniently overlook our own sins. The last thing any church needs is a bunch of people who have a fault-finding spirit. The simple fact is that you’re not the Holy Spirit. There’s only one Holy Spirit, and it’s not you. So, it’s not your responsibility—nor is it particularly helpful—for you to go around pointing out every single sin you observe in the lives the Christians around you.
Notice that in verse 1 of our main passage, Paul’s specifically speaking about a situation in which someone’s “caught in [a] transgression” in the sense of being overcome by that sin. He’s not saying we need to take action every single time we observe a transgression taking place but instead that we should intervene mainly when the transgression seems to have gained the upper hand in someone’s life.
In addition, as we’re trying to decide whether to address sin in a person’s life or not, I think it’s also wise to consider how much harm that sin is doing. As we just saw, sin is always harmful. But some sins are more harmful than others, and sin in its later stages is more harmful than sin in its earlier stages. So, as we seek to determine whether we should confront someone or not, I think we should ask ourselves how much harm their sin is currently causing. How much is the sin harming the person who’s committing it? How much is it harming other people around the person? How much is it harming our relationship with the person? And how much is it harming the person’s Christian witness? So, hopefully, these questions will help us determine whether it’s truly beneficial to address a sin we see in someone else and avoid having a fault-finding spirit.
Then, as we come to the end of verse 1, Paul gives us a very clear warning. He says, “Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted.” So, going along with the gentleness Paul told us to have earlier, we should also have humility, recognizing that, even as we seek to help others in their sin, we too can be tempted to sin. We might be tempted to sin in the same way as the person we’re seeking to help, or we might be tempted to sin by being prideful or self-righteous as we address the sin in the other person’s life.
Then, moving on to verse 2, Paul writes, “Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.” Now, as we consider what it might mean to “bear one another’s burdens,” think of it in terms of a physical burden. If you see someone struggling to carry a heavy object—like maybe a large cooler filled with drinks, let’s say—the polite thing to do—if you’re physically able—would be help them carry it. So, you’d offer to take one end of the cooler while the other person takes the other end. This way, the weight of the heavy cooler is distributed between the both of you. Instead of just one person trying to bear that heavy load alone, both of you are bearing the load together.
And that’s similar to what we’re called to do spiritually. Bearing one another’s burdens means that, if we see a fellow Christian struggling to overcome a sin in their life and not being particularly successful in that struggle, we don’t just leave them floundering in their sin but instead seek to come alongside them and help them. This involves praying for them, offering encouragement to them, sharing anything from the Bible we believe the Lord would have us share, and being available to hold the person accountable. This is how those of us who are Christians bear one another’s burdens.
Not only that, Paul says that, by doing this, we “fulfill the law of Christ.” Isn’t that an interesting phrase? Throughout his letter to the Galatians, Paul’s been quite clear that we’re not under the Old Testament law any longer. That means we’re not obligated to observe the Old Testament food laws, the various festivals required in the Old Testament, or the Old Testament ritual of circumcision. We’re not “under the law” in that sense. However, that doesn’t mean there’s not a code for us to live by. Paul refers to it here as “the law of Christ.”
Now, in one sense, “the law of Christ” refers to anything Jesus has instructed us to do. If Jesus told us to do it, it’s a part of “the law of Christ.” However, keep in mind that Jesus emphasized one virtue in particular as what we might call the crowing virtue and the virtue that encompasses all others—and that is love. In Matthew 22:37-40, Jesus says that the entire Old Testament law can be summarized in the command to love God and other people. He also says to his disciples in John 13:34, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.”
Not only that, Paul’s just told us in Galatians 5:14 that “the whole law is fulfilled in one word: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’” So, I think it’s accurate to say that the “law of Christ” here in Galatians 6:2 can be boiled down to love. This is what Jesus emphasized as the virtue that encompasses all others. And according to Paul in this verse, one key way we exhibit this virtue is by bearing one another’s burdens.
And of course, let’s not forget that Jesus teaches us about the kind of love that bears the burdens of others not only by his words but also, even more, by his example. Think about that. The greatest example of someone bearing the burdens of others is when Jesus bore our sins on the cross. Our sins had separated us from a holy God and made us deserving of suffering his wrath in hell for all eternity. Yet Jesus entered this world as a man and suffered the penalty for our sins on the cross.
Isaiah 53:5-6 describes it in this way: 5 But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed. 6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. Essentially, Jesus suffered the penalty for our sins on the cross so we wouldn’t have to suffer that penalty in hell. He was then raised from the dead so that everyone who puts their trust in him is rescued from their sins and receives the free gift of eternal life.
So, when Paul tells us to “Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ,” he’s essentially telling us to follow the example Jesus himself set for us on the cross. Remembering the way in which Jesus has borne our burdens on the cross should motivate us to bear one another’s burdens whenever we have opportunity to do so.
Also, as you might imagine, this requires a lot of humility—since bearing the burdens of others isn’t exactly a glamorous undertaking. That’s why, as we move on to verses 3-4, Paul emphasizes the importance of being humble. He writes, 3 For if anyone thinks he is something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself. 4 But let each one test his own work, and then his reason to boast will be in himself alone and not in his neighbor. So, as you’re seeking to minister to those who are struggling with sin, don’t for a moment think that you’re superior to them. If you think you’re something when, in reality, you’re nothing, you’re only deceiving yourself, Paul says.
Instead, according to Paul, we need to “test [our] own work.” And I’ll just say that we do that not by comparing ourselves to others but by comparing ourselves to Jesus. If you want to get an accurate measurement of how good you really are, you have to compare yourself to Jesus—measuring your life against his life and your supposed “righteousness” against his righteousness. And when you do that, guess what? You’ll inevitably discover that you’re not nearly as good or worthy of commendation as you often like to imagine you are.
Think about it like this. When you look at an object, it might very well appear to be white even if it’s not actually pure white but is instead an off-white color. For example, your teeth might initially appear to be white when you’re just comparing them with one another. But if you found something that’s truly white—like maybe the pure white paint sample card from Home Depot—and put that up against your teeth, you’d discover that your teeth actually aren’t truly white. They’re an off-white, or maybe even a yellowish white.
In a similar way, as we seek to assess ourselves spiritually, we have to make sure we’re comparing ourselves with the proper standard. And that standard is nothing less than Jesus himself—the life he lived and the righteousness he exhibited. That, I believe, is how we do what Paul tells us to do in verse 4 and test ourselves by the proper standard.
Paul then gives one final reminder in verse 5. He says, “For each will have to bear his own load.” I believe that’s a reference to each one of us standing before God one day in order to be evaluated. When that day comes, “each will have to bear his own load.”
So, as we prepare for that day in the future of standing before God and having to bear our own load, let me encourage you to be faithful in the present by bearing one another’s burdens.
And I feel compelled to say that, in order to bear the burdens of others, you have to actually get to know other people in the church. It’s only as we develop meaningful relationships in the church that we’re able to minister to one another in the most meaningful ways. So, if you haven’t yet joined a Community Group, that’s a good place to begin. I also encourage you to let your Community Group meeting be the launchpad for relationships that go beyond the meeting itself—whether it be a discipling relationship in which you’re actively discipling someone else or simply a peer relationship in which you’re meeting together with two or three other Christians of the same gender for some kind of meaningful spiritual interaction.
In addition, one final thing I’d like to point out is that ministering to Christians who are struggling with sin requires a somewhat unique blend of boldness and humility. On the one hand, we have to be bold in the sense of not shying away from addressing someone’s sin or being intimidated by others or thinking that we’re inadequate to minister to them but instead being bold and confident enough to address their sin in the ways that are needed. Yet, in addition to being bold, we also have to be humble. This means not looking down on others or thinking of ourselves as superior to them in any way. So, that’s what we need—boldness and humility.
And here’s the thing: the way we acquire this unique blend of boldness and humility is through the gospel. It’s only through the gospel that we’re able to be bold and yet also humble.
You see, the gospel first of all makes us humble by teaching us that there’s nothing we can do, in and of ourselves, to make ourselves right with God or earn God’s favor. All of our moral accomplishments are utterly inadequate, leaving us entirely helpless. And that’s profoundly humbling.
Yet the gospel also gives us reason to be bold and confident—with boldness and confidence that are rooted not in ourselves but in Jesus. Through Jesus and what he’s accomplished on our behalf, we’re loved and accepted by God. We can now approach God with the confidence that he loves and accepts us because we’re clothed, as it were, with the righteous status of Jesus. Not only that, Jesus empowers us—through the Holy Spirit—to grow in godly character and minister to others in meaningful ways. So, the gospel has the effect of producing within us that unique blend of humility and boldness that’s so vital for us being able to minister to one another.
other sermons in this series
Dec 1
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Galatians 6:11-18: Boasting Only in the Cross
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Galatians 6:6-10: Sowing and Reaping
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Nov 10
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Galatians 5:16-26: Walking by the Spirit
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