Bearing Burdens

August 10, 2010

This past Sunday we studied Galatians 6:1-10. In that passage, Paul gives some very practical exhortations to the churches of Galatia. I spent some time during the sermon trying to offer some counsel as to how we as Christians might help to bear the burdens of a fallen brother. Here is just a quick recap in case you missed Sunday’s sermon, or if you need a reminder as you give yourself to this work this week.

Our ultimate goal in restoring a fallen brother or sister is to see God powerfully transfer their affections for sin to affection for Christ. That is something that only the Spirit can do, but he is pleased to use his people in that work as we hold out Christ to our fallen brother or sister. Matthew 18:15-17 gives us an outline of what helping our brother or sister might look like, but let me try to fill out what such an approach might look like in granular detail.

1. Pray & Examine

As we begin to help another brother or sister in Christ, we should begin by going to the Lord in prayer, asking for his wisdom and help, and ultimately asking that he would be pleased to see our brother or sister quickly restored. As we pray, we should examine our own hearts. We want to make sure that we do not take any particular delight in confronting our brother or sister, but that we feel sorrow and burdened by sin and its effects. If we know the nature of the sin, then we would be wise to examine God’s word and to see what our Lord has said about how to put off this sin and to put on the righteousness of Christ.

2. Approach & Identify

After we’ve prayed and examined God’s Word, then we need to approach our brother or sister. Matthew 18 encourages approaching him or her alone, and I think Christ’s aim in that is to limit the potential for gossip.[1] Once all of the details are sorted out about meeting with your brother or sister, then in that meeting you want to gently identify sin – a specific sin or a pattern of sin or both.[2]

And here I want to make an important caveat: Our responsibility is not to relieve the burdens of our brother or sister. So if our brother or sister is feeling conviction or shame for their sin, I’m not sure that we should try to alleviate that. Our responsibility is to help shoulder the burden and we do that best by honestly coming to grips with the weight of sin and helping them to realize that they can’t bear it on their own.

3. Confession, Repentance & the Cross

Once we’ve clearly identified sin then we want to encourage confession, and we want to encourage confession on the basis of what Jesus has done. We want to remind our brother or sister that if we confess our sins the Lord Jesus is faithful and just to forgive us of our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Jesus can cleanse us because he has paid the penalty for our sin on the cross. Christ’s work on the cross frees us to be honest about our sin, to confess it openly and to rejoice that it has been paid for. After we have encouraged confession and called our brother or sister to consider the cross, we then want to help them think through what repentance might look like.

Repentance as described in the Bible is a change of mind and heart by the power of the Spirit which results in a change of behavior. It moves from the heart outward. This is where our burden-bearing can get immensely practical. There may need to be changes to an everyday pattern of life in order to avoid particular places or circumstances. Think carefully about how you can help your brother or sister turn away from sin and turn to Christ, even in practical ways.

4. Practice, Faith & Hope

Once you’ve thought through repentance, put those efforts into practice and walk in faith and hope. Our God is great and he rejoices when sinners repent. Just remember the story of the prodigal son. In that story God is portrayed as the father who runs out to his son, wraps his arms around him, kisses, him and throws a feast for him. God delights in the return of a wayward son or daughter and he loves to give them strength to follow him in faith. We can be hopeful that sin can be conquered and that a brother can be restored because of God’s love for repentance and the power of the Spirit.

[1] Generally speaking its best to approach your brother or sister alone. If however you are of the opposite sex than your brother or sister, it is not necessarily wise to meet alone and more thought will need to be given to the appropriate context of approach.

[2] You will not help your brother or sister if you present them with vague notions of sin, in fact you might only confuse and discourage them.

Under Blog, Church, Grace Happenings, Reflections