Unity in Community: Bearing Each Other's Burdens

1) "Isolation is to addiction what community is to recovery. Because addiction is often a disease of loneliness, right? It is a disease of loneliness. And during the pandemic, loneliness spiraled out of control upward, didn't it? I mean, so much loneliness. We were told to isolate. We were told to keep our distance and to be alone. And these Virginia professors, they went on and they said, rebuilding meaningful social connections may be just as important to someone's recovery as mediating their physical withdrawal symptoms. And that's powerful stuff. Because we get into trouble, right, when we try to do life on our own." [21:44] (57 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


2) "At the heart of the church, from its inception, from the very beginning, we have always been about relationships. Our relationship with Christ, our relationships with other Christian brothers and sisters. That's why we refer to the church as the family of God, right? Because this is so important. And we know that the New Testament, the New Testament devotes itself to emphasizing more than anything, the family of God. And we know that the New Testament, the New Testament, a dozen times, different passages that have a command to do something with one another." [23:37] (33 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


3) "Bear one another's burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ. It's a load. And that's what it represents. It might be sin. It might be sin done to us. It might be circumstances, the result of sin, because of sin in our culture, because of sin around us, whatever it is, God knows that sin is a heavy burden to bear. And that's why he sent his son, Jesus, because he knew we needed help with that burden. But maybe your burden doesn't just have to do with sin directly. Maybe, maybe your burden is a medical diagnosis, or maybe your burden is a financial crisis, or maybe it's a wayward child or grandchild, whatever your burden is." [30:52] (56 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


4) "If you think you're too important to help someone, you're fooling yourself. You're not important. You're not important at all. Please understand too, just cause I, I, I, I'm not saying I saw it, but that is not, that verse is not a weapon for you to turn to your spouse and say, honey, take a picture. That's your life verse. No, Paul understands something very important that we need, to understand. He is speaking against arrogance. He is speaking against exclusivity. When someone solely looks out for their own benefit, they do so at the expense of everyone around them. Church, we should be marked by humility and inclusivity." [37:56] (64 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


5) "I want people to connect in relationships and make FCC their church home. I want them to feel like they belong so that through relationships with other Christians, they can begin to understand who we believe Jesus Christ is. And allow him to begin to transform the way you live. That's the way the church should work. I was talking with a couple of friends about this this morning, and one of them, who's much taller, much better looking, and thinks he's a lot wiser than me, was saying that, man, you know what it's like? And I love this analogy. He said, it's like the gym only existing for fit people." [41:51] (47 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


6) "Burying one another's burdens carries a promised result with it. I don't know if you caught it. If we faithfully carry each other's burdens, then we will be fulfilling the law of Christ. Jesus said it himself in John 13, a new command, I give you love one another as I have loved you, so you must love one another. In John 15, 12, my command is this, other as I have loved you. Church bearing one another's burdens is a great responsibility and a great privilege. Jesus was a great burden bearer, a great listener, a great helper. He loved others. He bore our burden of sin on the cross so that we could have the promise of eternity and hope." [45:32] (58 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


7) "Here's what burden bearing is. Burden bearing is when your pain lives in my heart. And it's the language, you see it in the gospel, it's the language that only the deaf can hear and the blind can see because when you carry someone's burden for them, you resemble Jesus." [47:26] (27 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)