Yesterday, I wrote about the person next to you, meaning the other people in your church. You know, the people whom you are supposed to love but about whom you know almost nothing. Right, those people.
We are also told to bear the burdens of those people. "Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ." Galatians 6:2. (It is amazing how many sermons I have heard on how much money to give to the church and how few I have heard on bearing one another's burdens.)
If you do not bear the burdens of others, you cannot fulfill the law of Christ, that much is clear. If you do not lift them up, help them survive their falls, help them to carry out their daily duties, then you are not fulfilling the law of Christ. You are not, in fact, loving them at all.
We have given up this idea almost entirely. We "bear one another's burdens" by bringing people meals when they are sick. Really? What do we do when they are discouraged or depressed? What do we do when they have struggles at work? What do we do when they are tempted to sin? What do we do when they sin?
The reality for most of us is that we avoid this duty by simply never knowing one another at all. If I do not know you, then I do not know your burdens and I do not have to carry them. If I don't know about your sick, elderly parent who lives with you, I do not have to get involved at all. I can feel good about you (and about me) without any effort, which fulfills the law of man. I do not have to do anything at all about you.
We each stand on our own (as individuals and as married partners). We sit alone at night and struggle with our finances and our children and our disagreements. We sit in church together, smiling and saying we are "fine," and then go home to worry about things we would never tell anyone. We do not want to fulfill the law of Christ and we do not want anyone else fulfilling that law in our lives. We want to be left alone.
Lately, I have even heard sermons about the "sin" of not joining in the singing in church. Seriously. There I am, sitting in a room filled with strangers, being told that not singing loudly enough is a serious violation of the law of Christ. Sitting with hundreds of people with needs and no brother to pick them up, no sister to urge them on, no one to carry their burdens at all. Somehow, getting such people to sing in unison seems like a very small goal for a church, doesn't it?
How have you fulfilled the law of Christ this week? Whose burdens have you carried? Did singing louder make you feel better about failing to do what God commands?
I hope not.
We are also told to bear the burdens of those people. "Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ." Galatians 6:2. (It is amazing how many sermons I have heard on how much money to give to the church and how few I have heard on bearing one another's burdens.)
If you do not bear the burdens of others, you cannot fulfill the law of Christ, that much is clear. If you do not lift them up, help them survive their falls, help them to carry out their daily duties, then you are not fulfilling the law of Christ. You are not, in fact, loving them at all.
We have given up this idea almost entirely. We "bear one another's burdens" by bringing people meals when they are sick. Really? What do we do when they are discouraged or depressed? What do we do when they have struggles at work? What do we do when they are tempted to sin? What do we do when they sin?
The reality for most of us is that we avoid this duty by simply never knowing one another at all. If I do not know you, then I do not know your burdens and I do not have to carry them. If I don't know about your sick, elderly parent who lives with you, I do not have to get involved at all. I can feel good about you (and about me) without any effort, which fulfills the law of man. I do not have to do anything at all about you.
We each stand on our own (as individuals and as married partners). We sit alone at night and struggle with our finances and our children and our disagreements. We sit in church together, smiling and saying we are "fine," and then go home to worry about things we would never tell anyone. We do not want to fulfill the law of Christ and we do not want anyone else fulfilling that law in our lives. We want to be left alone.
Lately, I have even heard sermons about the "sin" of not joining in the singing in church. Seriously. There I am, sitting in a room filled with strangers, being told that not singing loudly enough is a serious violation of the law of Christ. Sitting with hundreds of people with needs and no brother to pick them up, no sister to urge them on, no one to carry their burdens at all. Somehow, getting such people to sing in unison seems like a very small goal for a church, doesn't it?
How have you fulfilled the law of Christ this week? Whose burdens have you carried? Did singing louder make you feel better about failing to do what God commands?
I hope not.