Helping One Another: Bearing Burdens and Serving Together

So I might conclude and rightly so that if I'm to get help, if I'm to get the care that I long for, I need to go to God in prayer through Jesus, the savior, cast my care upon him and he will care for me. Yes. But then the question is, how? How does he care for his own? And the primary means of the father's care for his children now listen, it's Christ's church. That's where it is. That's why there are more than 50 references in the New Testament and primarily in the epistles. [00:38:37] (45 seconds)  #CareThroughChurch

If we're honest, that is the cry of every human heart. Whether a person calls out for it like Lennon very publicly in a song, whether we ask for it or rather simply silence that longing, Some of us will stuff the yearning for help. Sometimes we seek to pacify that need with some kind of maybe self medication. Where then is help to be found? I mean, and lasting help. Well, certainly certainly in Christ Jesus. There is the ultimate eternal help, Christ Jesus. Every single human being on the planet needs the help that only Christ can give in his saving grace and saving work. [00:36:35] (57 seconds)  #HelpInChrist

So here's the thing. If I'm hung up on position, if I'm all about my rights, about my comfort, about my this, my that, I'm not gonna be like my master and I'll not serve. But if I will be like my master and I will serve, here's a wonderful thing. Jesus says in John 13 verse 17, after saying, you know, as you know, follow my example. He says, if you know these things, blessed are you if you do them. Blessed are you if you do them. You will discover in serving one another, you will discover some unexpected blessing, some unexpected joy that you would not have known before. [00:53:35] (47 seconds)  #ServeLikeJesus

Sometimes you have burdens that are too heavy for you to carry alone, sometimes I do too. And the problem is that when we try to when we try to carry those on our own, we end up getting crushed under the weight in some way or another. No. Paul calls us to help carry those burdensome hardships. Sometimes that burdensome hardship is sin and the consequences of it because we've been overcome by it. That's in verse one. It says, if one is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual, restore such a one. Restore such a one. Helping someone overcome sin. [00:57:14] (45 seconds)  #CarryEachOthersBurdens

Be attentively ready to bear a load, to bear a load. Look, let's be honest with each other. Let's acknowledge this simple fact. We all carry burdens. Everyone in this room, we all carry burdens. Some of those burdens we carry alone. Like in verse five, Paul says, each one shall bear his own load. And the and the word there that Paul uses for load is a word that really has the idea of cargo. We all have our own cargo that we need to carry. Think of it as the just the cargo that goes along with our everyday responsibilities of our calling, our vocation in life, whatever that might happen to be at whatever stage of life you are in. [00:55:09] (56 seconds)  #CarryYourOwnCargo

I can't suffer with you if I don't know you're suffering. You can't suffer with me if you don't know I'm suffering. I can't rejoice with you if I don't know to rejoice with you. I can't pray for you if I don't know what to pray about. Yeah. There's a reciprocity there. Be genuinely concerned for one another. Secondly, how do we care for one another? Well, John 13 shows us that we can care for one another by actively serving one another, actively serving one another. You remember the context there in John 13? Jesus has washed the disciples feet. There's this little give and take with Peter. He had a little argument there, but nevertheless, he washed the disciples feet and then at the at the end of that at the end of that object lesson is really what Jesus was doing. [00:47:14] (49 seconds)  #BeVulnerable

What happened just before Jesus revealed that one of them was gonna be a betrayer? He washed their feet and he said to them, I'm giving you a lesson as I have done, so you are to do. In other words, these these guys right in the context of being challenged to serve one another, that that just kinda goes in one ear and out the other and they're hung up on the position of who is the greatest. Well, if I if I'm so concerned about whether I'm greater than you are, if you're concerned about whether you're greater than I am and all that kind of junk, we're hung up on position. There's one thing that's absolutely sure, we're not gonna serve one another. So it can't be hung up on position. Instead, we need to be like our master. [00:50:35] (59 seconds)  #NoStatusInService

I need to know of a need if I'm gonna help serve to meet that need. I can't serve if a need is hidden. Well, anyway, Jesus observes, he recognizes he's aware of the need, dirty feet dirty feet. And then, okay, there's the need, here's the opportunity. There's a basin, there's a towel, and there's water. There's the opportunity. And in all of this, I therefore also need to minimize my rights. What do I mean by that? Well, in Galatians chapter five verses thirteen and fourteen, Paul writes this. He says, for, brethren, you've been called liberty, only do not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. [00:52:40] (48 seconds)  #ChooseLoveOverRights